The once-affordable housing in Phoenix is now outpricing working families. This contains rent, home prices and interest rates.
As time progresses, the cost of housing in Phoenix rises higher than ever. The average price for a home in Phoenix in June 2024 was $440k, compared to the average in 2019 being $256k.
The city of Phoenix has faced rapid population growth, limited house supply, and the rising costs of construction may be the reason behind the affordability crisis in the Valley.
“Housing suffering is pretty prevalent in Phoenix right now,” Dr. Deirdre Pfeiffer, an associate professor at Arizona State University’s School of Geographical Science and Urban Planning, said. “By suffering, I mean people who are suffering because of their housing situation, whether through living in unstable or overcrowded situations, being evicted or homeless, or simply not being able to save enough to afford the high costs of homeownership.”
Pfeiffer also stated homelessness and eviction rates have risen due to rising construction costs.
“People’s incomes are not increasing as fast as housing costs,” Pfeiffer said. “I want to say close to half of the homes are affordable or workforce. That would include teachers, firefighters, etc. The need still far outpaces what they have accomplished, so there is much more to do.”
Pfeiffer added that real solutions will need more public investment in affordable housing and less barriers for developers trying to build low-cost housing.
“We need to drastically increase public investment or funding in affordable rental housing in particular,” Pfeiffer said. “We should think about raising money through finding a nexus with factors that are leading to housing affordability issues.”
This problem is just as visible to those trying to offer alternative housing as well. Maxwell Toliver is a member of the 3 Dots Enterprises. Toliver says more people are turning to shared living because rent prices are now out of reach.
“The rising cost of housing in Phoenix and around the country has caused many hard-working people to be priced out of the housing market,” Toliver said. “People with good jobs just can’t afford to live by themselves anymore.”
Toliver shared that shared housing can provide an affordable and community-based alternative, but in this case, the growth was outdated by current regulations and policies.
“Zoning laws and ‘not in my backyard’ attitudes make it harder to expand affordable housing,” Oliver said. “Unless things change quickly, even middle-class earners will face the same problems as lower-income earners.”
For local renters, affordability concerns are an everyday struggle. Camila Guevara is a Downtown Phoenix resident and can describe the process of finding affordable housing for a university student.
“Finding an affordable place to rent in Phoenix was complicated,” Guevara said. “The new development I moved into wasn’t completely open yet, so everything was kind of a gamble. It looked like a great deal, but we didn’t really know what we were getting until move-in day.”
Guevara also pointed to how downtown construction has made affordable living harder for students. “It’s not very positive for people who are looking to rent, especially freshmen and sophomores who are just getting started and still rely on their parents financially,” she said.
As Phoenix continues to grow, both experts and residents agree that housing affordability needs to be one of the main focuses going forward.
Edited by Shi Bradley
