Pinal County struggles to keep up with affordable housing demand

Cypress Point Retirement Community in Casa Grande was built under the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program. It has made the decision to increase its prices to market rate and will be completely market rate by the end of 2018. /Jake Kincaid/PinalCentral.

 

By Jake Kincaid | Casa Grande Dispatch

The options for affordable housing in Pinal County are drying up.

The pool of available low-income housing is shrinking as rents rise, leaving the Pinal County Housing Department and affordable housing complexes with a demand that has outgrown the supply.

This year, the Housing Department was able to fund only 444 of the 584 Section 8 vouchers allotted by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or 76 percent, according to an occupancy report presented to the Pinal County Board of Supervisors this month. Section 8 is a rental assistance program that can be used by applicants in privately owned housing.

Pinal County Housing Director Adeline Allen said that in the past, the department typically has been able to fund between 82 and 92 percent of the needed vouchers. As the pool of rent-controlled affordable housing shrinks and rents rise in Pinal County, the housing department has been able to fund less and less of its vouchers, despite spending all of the money given to it in federal grants. There are now 709 people on the Section 8 waiting list.

READ ON:

Share this!

Additional Articles

News Categories

Get Our Twice Weekly Newsletter!

* indicates required

Rose Law Group pc values “outrageous client service.” We pride ourselves on hyper-responsiveness to our clients’ needs and an extraordinary record of success in achieving our clients’ goals. We know we get results and our list of outstanding clients speaks to the quality of our work.