Phoenix-area mayors blast controversial housing bill they say would 'silence our neighborhoods'

Arizona mayors railed against a bill sitting on Gov. Katie Hobbs' desk dubbed the Arizona Starter Homes Act, and asked her to veto it on Thursday, saying it would cut out local input and upend cities' authorities to shape the look and feel of their communities.

City mayors and vice mayors from Mesa, Phoenix, Goodyear and Yuma said House Bill 2570 would give developers what they want but do little to combat the affordable housing crisis the bill purports to address.

Standing outside the League of Arizona Cities and Towns building, the lobbying arm for municipal government, they and other elected officials decried the bill's potential pitfalls, stressed their interest in other solutions and highlighted changes they made to city housing policies they believe have or will mitigate the housing shortage.

"Strictly limiting our cities' land planning authority and silencing our neighborhoods is not the solution to the housing crisis," Mesa Mayor Johns Giles said. "While I believe the intentions of HB 2570 are well founded ... the bill is deeply flawed."

House Bill 2570, which gathered bipartisan support in the Legislature, would stop Arizona cities from requiring HOAs, minimum home sizes and community amenities.

It would alter design standards and significantly change the city zoning process, during which surrounding residents have the most opportunity to weigh in on proposed developments.

Supporters say the bill would cut red tape for developers, which would mean more and quicker homebuilding, lowering costs for buyers.

But opponents claim it would unfairly cut out residents from the process, pressure cities to provide resources before they are ready, and pose risks to public safety.

Nearly 20 Valley municipalities officially registered against the bill at the state include: Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa, Goodyear, Chandler, Gilbert, Paradise Valley, Buckeye, Tolleson, Litchfield Park, Glendale, Surprise, El Mirage, Avondale and Apache Junction. Multiple Fountain Hills council people, including the mayor, registered against it.

Peoria has not registered a position.

At odds between local and state officials is how to appropriately combat the housing crisis at a time when the state's burgeoning population is colliding with an inadequate housing supply.

Most recent research from Arizona State University says the state is short 270,000 housing units and has only 26 rentals available for every 100 extremely low-income households. Meanwhile, Maricopa County saw more population growth in 2022 than any other county in the nation.

The Arizona Starter Homes Act passed the House 33-26 and the Senate 16-13. It now awaits Hobbs' signature. She has until the end of the day Monday to veto, otherwise, the bill becomes law by default, a requirement of the Arizona Constitution.

Passage of the bill would likely put Hobbs, a Democrat, in hot water with Arizona mayors who are still reeling from the economic toll Hobbs' rent tax elimination has had on city budgets.

Hobbs asked for answers: Police, fire services under threat after rental tax cuts. Mayors want answers

The elimination of the rent sales tax, combined with former Republican Gov. Doug Ducey's flat tax, has drastically reduced cities' revenues. Phoenix is using one-time federal funds to relieve pressure in the upcoming budget but projects massive deficits in the two following years because of the state revenue changes.

The dispute: Cut red tape to combat housing shortage?

The Arizona Starter Homes Act argues local zoning regulations have infringed on private property rights and have exacerbated the housing shortage.

Senate President Warren Petersen, R-Gilbert, said "out-of-control zoning regulations" in cities have mired the construction process in bureaucracy, resulting in delayed building that pushes up prices onto the homebuyer.

While critics point out that the bill has no provisions requiring developers to build affordable housing, supporters say the bill's purpose is to cut red tape to make it easier to build. Doing that will increase the supply, which will organically draw down costs, they claim.

Social justice advocacy groups in support of the bill say it's about correcting regulations that have disadvantaged certain groups of people.

"By legalizing smaller homes, with fewer frills, on smaller lots, the Arizona Starter Homes Act would expand housing stability and opportunity to communities who desperately need it," wrote the People First Economy Coalition in a letter to Hobbs.

The advocacy groups say some cities' requirements for large lots and home sizes have "inherently" prevented working- and middle-class families, especially those who are Black and Latino, from affording those neighborhoods.

But Neal Haddad, president of the Neighborhood Coalition of Greater Phoenix, said local zoning is "the very essence of representative government."

"Residents provide an important perspective on their own neighborhoods, and need to be at the table to provide a voice in this process," he said.

Buckeye Mayor Eric Orsborn, who represents one of the fastest-growing cities in the nation, said there was no point at which a resolving crisis should mean reducing public input.

Other bills for Hobbs: Arizona bill to end HOA and lot size requirements for houses goes to Hobbs

Arizona residents, he said, have spent decades shaping their cities by helping craft and then vote on their general plans. State law requires each city to devise a general plan every decade that lays out future land uses.

Voters weigh in on the plan in public meetings and then vote on it. Tempe voters approved that city's 2050 plan this week.

To ask voters to civically participate but then take away much of their authority in the zoning process would be wrong, Orsborn said.

"There is no way I'm going to tell my residents, 'Sorry. We don't wanna hear what you have to say. We're just going to build whatever we want because, because homes are expensive today,'" Orsborn said.

Cities to state: You're attacking the wrong problem

State and city leaders also disagree on how much cities' regulations exacerbate the housing shortage.

The bill says cities' "restrictive regulations" have played "no small part" in the housing crisis. Housing developers have long bemoaned slow city processes and how backlash from anti-development residents hinders their ability to build the products they want.

But mayors on Thursday said myriad factors, including higher material costs, labor shortages and high-interest rates, were most at fault.

Giles said the housing industry was exploiting the housing crisis for personal gain, and that the bill was an "overreaction."

"NIMBYism is not running control of the land development in Maricopa County," Giles said. "There's a saying in politics: 'Never let a good crisis go to waste.' This is the development community using the housing crisis to get out from under regulation."

Phoenix Vice Mayor Deb Stark said the legislation would have unintended consequences unrelated to housing.

"The reduced setbacks in this bill can create issues for our firefighters," Stark said. "Five feet does not provide enough space to safely fight a fire."

The vice mayor was referencing a portion of the bill that bans cities from requiring setbacks greater than 5 feet on the side of developments and 10 feet in the front or back.

Stark also said the bill would pressure cities to build out roads or water infrastructure before they were ready. She said she worried about the ability to bring developers to the table to negotiate solutions without the zoning process.

She, Giles and others urged the Legislature to work "collaboratively" with cities and pointed to changes cities made that showed their commitment to address the crisis.

The changes included Phoenix's legalizing accessory dwelling units, changing parking requirements for multifamily housing and prohibiting source-of-income discrimination.

In Phoenix and Buckeye, procedural changes were made to save developers weeks of time. Other cities also have made changes, such as removing permitting fees to promote more dense development in certain areas, according to the League of Arizona Cities and Towns.

The mayors pointed to other legislation they supported, such as the "Yes in God's Backyard" bill. The bill is a bipartisan effort to allow thousands of land-owning churches and other religious institutions in Arizona to develop their extra land with fewer zoning restrictions.

"I can't emphasize enough that cities and towns are committed to working collaboratively with the Arizona state Legislature on efforts to reduce this housing shortage," Giles said. "But we all must work together."

Republic reporters Catherine Reagor, Ray Stern and Stacey Barchenger contributed to this article.

Taylor Seely covers Phoenix for The Arizona Republic / azcentral.com. Reach her at tseely@arizonarepublic.com or by phone at 480-476-6116.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona mayors: Starter Homes Act won't address affordability crisis