The bill in the state Legislature known as the Arizona Starter Homes Act continues to move; it recently cleared a House committee, and it’s already been approved by the Senate. Last week, we heard from Yuma Mayor Doug Nicholls, about some of his concerns with the measure.
“It gives, essentially, by rights zoning to a lot of areas and what that means is the planning that the cities have already done, the infrastructure investments, all the forward-looking planning that we do as a city that we’re responsible to our citizens for, goes out the window,” Nicholls said.
Doug Nicholls, mayor of Yuma, tells The Show that the bill is missing key provisions, such as requiring housing to be affordable and giving control to local governments and communities.
The bill has generated both bipartisan support and opposition and today, we’ll hear from its sponsor, Republican senator Shawnna Bolick (Phoenix).
Bolick joined The Show to discuss why she thinks the bill would help put a dent in the housing shortage the state is currently facing.
Full conversation
SHAWNNA BOLICK: I have two children, and as a mother of two 20-somethings, this issue is really important to me because I want to make sure that my own kids have that opportunity for first-time home ownership, warts and all. You know, it’s not always fun being a homeowner, but I would love for them to be able to experience that.
So just to give you some background on me, I have lived in a dormitory. I’ve lived in an apartment. I’ve lived in a condo. I’ve lived in a group home with other college students when I was a young twentysomething. When I lived in New York City, I even lived at the Y at 92nd Street.
So seeing how I have lived over the years and seeing how these kids these days are kind of struggling, Senate Bill 1229, the impetus behind it is only to really legalize small homes on small lots. Period.
And so I got elected first back in November of 2018. And I believe legislators have been working to address the affordable housing issue since I first got elected back in 2018. And at this point, I’m pretty fully invested in this issue.
My son and his wife, I worry that they will potentially move to a different city because the lack of affordable housing options. My son just got married in January. His wife is a student over at Cronkite. So they’re on their way to hopefully get into the market of of buying a house pretty soon.
And again, at the end of the day, I really don’t want to get on an airplane to go visit my grandchildren. I know it’s very selfish of me. But I know there’s other individuals out there on the legislative side that feel the same way that I do. And working towards something small like this, I think, is really the first step.
MARK BRODIE: One of the criticisms that I’m sure you’ve heard of this bill — and you alluded to it — is that there’s nothing necessarily in it that would make sure that the homes, these smaller homes on smaller lots, would in fact be more affordable. There have been some calls to maybe put some provisions in there to make sure they are owner occupied as opposed to investor owned.
I’m curious: What gives you the confidence that this bill will lead to more affordable homes?
BOLICK: So obviously, I don’t have the magic wand, and I don’t have a crystal ball. But getting back to starter homes like they had 50 years ago, obviously that cuts the size of the house down pretty dramatically.
It seems like when I’ve looked at different houses for sale, especially new homes, they start at like 2,500 square feet, 3,000 square feet. And when you’re first starting out, you really don’t need that room. You really don’t need to have all that property to take care of.
Yet obviously you’ve noticed we have had some pushback with Senate Bill 1229. I think it’s really unfair that we have taxpayer funded lobbyists that come down to the Capitol, and they do protect those unelected bureaucrats that are sitting in those planning offices.
I can tell you, if I was starting out as a 20-something, the last thing I would be worried about is what color the paint of my house should be or whether or not I have a garage or even what type of roof I have. But whenever new homebuyers are typically going through that process with the municipal governments, they’re telling them what they can and can’t have, and they’re dictating to them what their house is going to look like. And I really don’t think that’s fair.
It would be really great to get back to the way things should be, where you go in, you submit your plans and then you go back and forth. But it seems to me that the cities have taken over design standards. I don’t know what unelected bureaucrat should be in charge of design standards, but I can tell you I don’t think any should be.
I think if it’s your private property, you should be able to design a house, looking the way exactly you want it to look without having to worry about what features should be dictated to you.
BRODIE: Also, you brought up another concern that cities have brought up, which is that they say they’re losing some of the rights and responsibilities that they have in terms of designing and lot sizes, things like that.
I’m curious, though: Are you confident that builders — let’s say this bill were to become law — would builders build homes that first-time homebuyers like your son and his wife might be able to afford? Or is it possible that these could just be as unaffordable as so many other homes across the Valley and across the state?
BOLICK: Well, obviously, if we’re making sure that you have smaller homes on smaller lots, the home builders would really love to be able to get into this game again. They have told us repeatedly over the last several years that they’re unable to get some of these things approved because of the city requirements on one side.
The thing that I keep reminding myself is I was in my 20s whenever I bought my first house. Currently, the average age for a new homebuyer is 38 years old, and the average cost of a house is approaching about $500,000 in the Phoenix metro area. I think we need to get back to making sure that the younger generation has that chance of homeownership again. And I feel like it’s just getting further out of reach.
Obviously, a lot of these kids, when they get out of school, they have debt. My son and his wife will not have any college debt. And it’s crazy to think that whenever they show me some of the ads that they pull up for houses they might be able to afford — so one of the areas that they were looking at was over by, the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, in the flight path. And it was almost $300,000 for I think it was a 1,200-square-foot house, which is an absolute tear down.
I just can’t believe that that’s how crazy our market has gotten. I moved here in 2001, and if I had the resources back then, I would have definitely bought some farmland in the East Valley or West Valley. Because at this point, those are the areas in which we’re looking at to have these starter homes.
They’re not going to happen in Scottsdale. They’re probably not going to happen in Phoenix because the bill specifies it’s five acres and above. It’s very hard to actually find a plot of land that actually fits that equation within the central Phoenix area or even Scottsdale that’s affordable.
BRODIE: How big of a dent do you think this bill could potentially put in the housing crisis we’re dealing with? Again, assuming that it passes the Legislature and is signed into law.
BOLICK: If it helps even 15% of the young families that are hoping to buy a house, I would be really happy. Obviously we’ve had a lot of opposition. We have amended the bills. We’ve had lots of stakeholder meetings with the cities. We’ve had stakeholder meetings with the governor’s office as well to try to address their concerns.
In my opinion, I really don’t want to turn our back on this next generation. And I believe that supporting the Starter Home Act is probably the first step to address that issue.
BRODIE: Are you anticipating or would you welcome any additional changes at this point?
BOLICK: So we had a stakeholder meeting last Thursday after the bill went through the House Committee on Commerce. We are still trying to figure out if we need to amend the bill further or if it’s good the way it is. We were supposed to have a stakeholder meeting earlier today, and the city folks declined the invitation, as did the governor’s office.
So I’m hoping that we’re moving in the right direction. I’m hoping that, within the next week, we get it up on the board for a vote — whether that includes an amendment or not — and then send it up to the governor’s office for her signature.
KJZZ’s The Show transcripts are created on deadline. This text is edited for length and clarity, and may not be in its final form. The authoritative record of KJZZ’s programming is the audio record.