The Phoenix City Council is making moves to ease the city's affordable housing crunch, giving the green light to funnel over $9 million in federal grants into local developments. These funds, sourced from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's HOME Investment Partnerships Program, are earmarked to introduce or refurbish a total of 432 affordable housing units scattered throughout Phoenix. Mayor Kate Gallego hailed the initiative, emphasizing the urgency of providing safe, affordable homes, as stated on the city's official newsroom page.
The city's strategy is to loop in five developers through an Affordable Housing Loan Program agreement, the projects they helm aimed squarely at households earning at or below 60 percent of the Area Median Income, the cash injection also upping the stakes at an existing development, Osborn Pointe, where the funding pot got a $1 million top-up for a total loan of $2 million, these efforts are expected to forge 279 fresh units while another 153 will get a makeover. Notable developers like Garfield Veterans Housing III, LLC, and BNB Development, LLC, are listed amongst the cadre of selected developers, with Garfield III, for instance, slated to bag up to $2 million for its new 60-unit project on East Portland Street, and Kazan Apartments earmarked the same sum for 72 units over on North 43rd Avenue.
Meanwhile, the already-in-motion Osborn Pointe will bolster its service to low-income residents by doubling its HOME units to 22 that will serve households under 40 percent AMI, in a quid pro quo for the additional capital. These units, along with the rest being developed or refurbished across the city, will contribute to the broader scheme, the Housing Phoenix Plan, which is on track with over 40,000 units out of a 50,000 target by 2030.
As per the city's housing report, once completed, the projects will build on the city's ongoing campaign to alleviate the housing pressure, Memorial Towers at South 7th Avenue is one such project, earmarked to receive a $1 million boost, this refurbishment a node in the network of urban rejuvenation.
