By Mark Cowling | Casa Grande Dispatch
Pinal County has the second-highest rent in the state, with an annual income of $40,520 needed to rent a two-bedroom apartment. In Coolidge, Florence or Maricopa, a retail worker or a waiter can’t afford to buy a house at the median price or rent a two-bedroom apartment.
These are some of the details to emerge from the county’s planning process for federal Community Development Block Grants.
“Can the CDBG be used to encourage developers to build smaller houses, apartments or condominiums?” Supervisor Todd House, R-Apache Junction, asked during Wednesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting. He said the county must show its developers an advantage to building this housing. “Somewhere down the road we need to have a work session to understand fully what we can and cannot do to influence or help development of affordable housing in Pinal County.”
