Three years after taxpayers agreed to a hike in sales taxes to expand public transit, a group of Mesa Mormon Republican Millionaires have hijacked "The Salvation Train" to overtake the economic development platform of Local Initiatives Support Corporation Phoenix for affordable housing to build their own private wealth creation.
Phoenix on the Verge
The Metro Area including Mesa might have been on the verge two years ago when
political leaders and developers embraced transit-oriented development, known as TOD, a term for sustainable, higher density walkable communities, organized around affordable mass transit.
“At the outset, there were zero units of affordable housing along the light rail,” says Benelli. Now there are 2,100. “LISC was able to get in there and help our partners build using tax credits, when nobody else could.”
Compared to the 100,000 needed, of course, 2,100 is a drop in the bucket . . . building affordable housing in the city center in the urban core puts people near jobs,schools, culture, and all the other amenities that everybody deserves, across the entire income spectrum that's inclusive and affordable for everyonewww.lisc.org/our-stories/story/phoenix-on-the-verge 05 April 2016
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“. . . If there was a silver lining to the foreclosure crisis, it’s that it was a wake-up call,” says Terry Benelli, director of LISC’s Phoenix office. . . "
"Twenty miles to the south-east of central Phoenix, you can step off the light rail at Center and Main Streets in Mesa, across from the dazzling façade of the Mesa Arts Center and neat rows of shops and restaurants—and feel you have arrived in a village that’s home to families from across the income spectrum. A directional sign on Main Street lists local shops and restaurants and notes the time it takes to walk to them. A block to the north is the IDEA children’s museum; a block to the south, volunteers water vegetables in raised beds against a backdrop of murals by local artists at the Mesa Urban Garden. . . .
“There are still a lot of conveniences that need to be built into the downtown, and there aren’t enough amenities for people,. . . he says, citing the themes he expounds at city council meetings and in daily blog posts. “But I can walk to the farmer’s market, Food City is 15 minutes away on the express bus, and there’s the 99 cent store for bargains. Mesa is on its way.”
In spite of the progress around TOD in the Phoenix area, there’s much more to be done, Inclusionary zoning laws have stalled in the legislature, . . NOBODY'S TALKING ABOUT INCLUSIONARY ZONING HERE IN THE OLD DONUT-HOLE where deep-pocket millionaires are well into rampant real estate speculation for high-end housing in the distressed neighborhood downtown Mesa has become
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HERE IN MESA There's a new crisis in affordable housing
> 06 August 2018
QUESTION: It's Primary Election Time. Are any of the candidates running to get elected or re-elected for seats on the Mesa City Council even mentioning or promoting affordable housing here in Mesa? . Nope. Instead we have 'upscale, above market-rate luxury housing' and rampant downtown real estate speculation by millionaires.
Jul 24, 2018 - Modest incomes in a metro area of rising home prices, pricey new apartments and spiking rents make it harder to afford housing in our ...
Apr 13, 2018 - A nationwide affordable-housing crisis deepened across Maricopa ... in 2017, according to court data obtained by The Arizona Republic
> 16 August 2017
Worst-Case Housing Needs Increase
In 2015, 8.3 million households had worst-case needs, approaching the record high of 8.48 million
By Donna Kimura
BLOGGER NOTE: Reproduced and posted here almost in its entirety from this source: http://www.housingfinance.com
The number of very poor unsubsidized families struggling to pay their monthly rent and who may also be living in substandard housing increased between 2013 and 2015, according to a new report released by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
We are experiencing an affordable housing crisis of unprecedented proportions
WORST CASE HOUSING NEEDS 2017 REPORT TO CONGRESS LINK> https://www.huduser.gov/portal/publications/Worst-Case-Housing-Needs.html
> 15 April 2016
The Affordable-Housing Crisis Moves Inland
Rents are up and pay is the same, prompting cities across America to explore inclusionary zoning as a solution.
Article by Patrick Clark / April 15, 2016 — 4:00 AM MST
Inclusionary housing emerged from the suburbs of Washington, D.C., in the early 1970s to meet two goals: Create affordable housing at low cost to local governments and mix/integrate housing reserved for low- and moderate-income residents with higher-priced market rate rentals and for-sale units [condominiums, for example]
> 25 March 2018
AFFORDABLE HOUSING FINANCE
LIHTC Increase Included in Spending Bill
The housing credit would be expanded by 12.5% over four years.
Note: This story was updated on March 23, 2018.
The low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) program will receive a 12.5% increase for the next four years under a $1.3 trillion omnibus spending plan agreed to by Congress
Cantwell, who has been pushing to expand the LIHTC program for several years, cited how the recent tax reform bill harms future development of affordable housing. Although the 2017 tax legislation retained the housing credit program, several other measures in the bill are expected to significantly reduce the number of affordable homes built in the nation
