By Roland Murphy | YourValley
Nearly 200 attendees braved some of the worst weather in recent Phoenix history to attend the “Yes In My Backyard: Ensuring Housing Supply for Arizona’s Future” Symposium at Papago Golf Club on Feb. 22.
The event was moderated by Nico Howard of HOME Arizona and Mark Stapp of the W.P Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, the two hosting organizations. While the three-and-a-half-hour symposium covered nearly every aspect of the current state of affairs in Arizona housing—from current economic and demand conditions to future policy planning—three core issues of concern to the construction and development community were top of mind for all the attendees and the various speakers:
- The severity of Arizona’s housing shortage,
- The slow pace of entitlements, permitting and other municipal processes, and
- The accelerating rise of NIMBYism and “resident” opposition.
The State of Housing
Early in the event, economist Elliot D. Pollack gave a detailed presentation on the scope and severity of the state’s housing shortage. He warned that the currently severe state of demand versus supply will require deliveries of at least 16,000 units/year for every year in the near future across all housing types, price levels and income levels. In 2021, the market delivered fewer than 10,000 units. 2022 saw roughly 12,000 units, and the 2023 projection is slightly more than 8,000 units.
