On her first full day as the new Governor of Arizona, Katie Hobbs rolled up her sleeves with a day of service and shared how she plans to prioritize affordable housing in Arizona.
At a mobile-home park in the heart of Avondale, nine-year-old Sandy is getting some much needed repairs on a portion of her home where she sleeps.
After heavy rains and cold nights over the holiday, The Arizona Service Project was able to insulate the roof and fix an on-going leak.
Sandy tells ABC15 she can't sleep in her bed when it rains. Perhaps what’s more exciting for nine-year-old was Katie Hobbs helping with the service project and helping her pick out and paint her room pink.
“So I can have purple sheets,” she said standing in the door way of her home.
Arizona Service Project was able to make the repairs after Sandy’s family filled out an application to qualify for their help. Brian Schoettes with Arizona Service Project said they help families make their homes, “warmer, colder, or drier.”
Hobbs hopes service focused non-profits can help make housing in Arizona more affordable.
“Families that really need the help, it’s great to be a part of it,” she said before putting on the safety goggles.
While Governor, Hobbs looks to prioritize affordable housing by calling on local communities to build more of it.
She hopes to expand access to low-interest financing for housing developments and incentivize local communities to provide land.
And she wants a construction pilot program to expand.
A bipartisan piece of legislature established an affordable housing tax-credit pilot program which requires developers to include affordable housing in their development plans so they can qualify for the credit.
But with a republican led legislature, Hobbs is hoping housing is a bi-partisan effort where her political opponents are open to pursue strings on funding.
“This is an area that is ripe to work together and find common ground, there were some interesting bipartisan proposals put forth last year,” said Hobbs.
Last fiscal year, the Arizona Department of Housing measured there are nearly $270K housing units short of the current demand.
So, for a comprehensive housing plan that ranges from homelessness to families staying in existing homes without being priced out, Hobbs tapped someone familiar with the service of housing needs, Joan Serviss.
She will be the Arizona housing department head at the end of this month.
She has been the director for a housing coalition that aims to end homelessness by advocating for affordable housing.
“We need to build, build, build, but we also need to focus on affordability. That’s going to require an investment in the federal government, state government, local government and the business community.
Recognizing to have an economic workforce, they need to invest in the value of a diverse housing stock.”
“This is something, it’s going to be a huge focus in the next 100 days,” said Hobbs.
For more details on her housing policy, Hobbs details her plans on her campaign website.
