More Progress on Housing Affordability.

Dear Tucsonans,

This week I'm happy to share some of our recent successes as we continue to pursue permanent solutions to address housing affordability. Among the good news is the City's $500,000 investment into a housing fund for essential workers, a nearly $2.1M state allocation to leverage private investment for affordable housing, and the grand opening of a 100-unit affordable housing complex on Tucson's southeast side.

We are making good progress on this issue and I will continue to keep you updated as new developments arise.

As always, please feel free to reach out to me at Mayor.Romero@tucsonaz.gov.

City of Tucson Awarded Nearly $2.1M in Federal Low-income Housing Tax Credits to Leverage Private Investment for Affordable Housing

The City of Tucson is excited to embark on another public/private partnership to increase our supply of affordable housing and bring relief to Tucsonans.

This week the City of Tucson announced the allocation of $2,073,677 as part of a coveted federal 9% Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program. The program, administered by the Arizona Department of Housing enables local private developers to compete for federal tax credits to develop affordable housing units. The City of Tucson Department of Housing and Community Development created the nonprofit El Pueblo Housing Development whose $19.8M Milagro on Oracle represents its first housing community.

This award shows how well our Housing Affordability Strategy for Tucson (HAST) is working. Mayor and Council are aggressively expanding our efforts to preserve and enhance existing housing, and subsidizing the rehabilitation of affordable rental housing is one way we are seeing success.

Milagro on Oracle will serve older adults in the Thrive in the '05 area. It includes the adaptive re-use of 15 apartments in single-story buildings currently or formerly used as motor courts and 48 units in a newly-built four-story elevator building for a total of 63 units. The project will also include 19 supportive housing units serving persons 55 years of age or older who are experiencing homelessness. The project also ensures the preservation of two motor courts that have been designated as contributing to the Miracle Mile National Historic District.

City of Tucson Invests $500,000 into Essential Workers Housing Fund

On May 25th I joined Tucson Vice Mayor Lane Santa Cruz and City of Tucson Industrial Development Authority (IDA) CEO Dre Thompson (above) as we celebrated a transformative investment for Tucson essential workers. Essential workers sustained our economy during the pandemic, and now we have the opportunity to help make their dreams of homeownership a reality.

In collaboration with the City of Tucson IDA and Tucson REALTORS Charitable Foundation, this investment will ensure essential workers and their families achieve financial stability so they can go from renting to homeownership to wealth creation. The City's investment is directed to serve essential workers working within city limits.

For more information please visit essentialworkershousingfund.com.

Photo Credit: Arizona Department of Housing

100-unit Affordable Housing Complex Opens in Tucson

I recently joined Arizona Department of Housing Director, Tom Simplot and La Frontera Arizona CEO Dr. Dan Ranieri at the grand opening of the Center of Hope Apartments. Located on Tucson's southeast side, these 100 units represent another successful public/private partnership to help answer the call for affordable housing in the City of Tucson.