By Joshua Fenty | West Valley View
The Tolleson City Council recently received an update regarding its Housing Study, detailing the community’s housing needs and various strategies to respond to them. The study used data from recent years to identify various affordability issues, including a $17,757 annual affordability gap for tenants, a median rent of $1,121 and a reduction in real renter income by 31% from 2017 to 2022 — and Revitalization Manager Noel Schaus said the numbers have only worsened.
“The kind of rental requests that we see now are much higher than that — we see $1,800 to $2,000 for market rate,” Schaus said. “You’re going to start seeing overcrowding with people moving in together to afford and you’re going to see some people slide into homelessness if they miss rent.
“That’s not sustainable.”
