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By Gabriela Rico | Arizona Daily Star
A long-running soup kitchen in South Tucson has branched out into the housing market.
Casa Maria recently bought the El Camino Motel, 297 E. Benson Highway, with plans to operate it as an affordable housing complex.
The 20 units will be rented monthly to people earning less than 80% of the area median income, for between $600 and $700 a month, which will include utilities, said Roxanna Valenzuela, a community organizer for Casa Maria.
The average household income in South Tucson is about $36,000, according to data from the U.S. Census.
“In 2020, Casa Maria recognized that the economic disruptions caused by the pandemic were likely to increase rental prices,” Valenzuela said. “In that year, we embarked on a strategic plan to purchase residential properties and remove them from the speculative real estate market (and) rent these units to low-income families, prioritizing those with historic connections to South Tucson.”
