Affordable Housing Grant in Surprise

Phoenix AZ

01 May, 2022

1:17 PM

Description

The city of Surprise has received a $665,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development to bring more affordable housing opportunities to residents of the West Valley community. The grant is coming from the new Citizen Participation Plan and HOME funding program through Maricopa County. A hearing was held Feb. 9 to discuss how the grant money would be used. The focus of the grant is for creating new housing units within the city in order to bring more diversity and other economic opportunities to the community, Surprise city officials said. Surprise residents and representations from other nonprofit organizations offered suggestions on housing development needs they felt needed to be addressed. One of those needs was a stronger focus on providing adequate housing needed for economic expansion, specifically for low-income and middle-class individuals. Robert Sanders, a representative of I-HELP, which provides a safe place to sleep and a hot meal for adults experiencing homelessness, says the grant is beneficial to his organization because it will help 36 people in the program — 16 of which will have a roof over their heads and 13 who were employed. The city of Surprise has an Annual Action Plan that outlines the goals and objectives related to housing and development needs, which launches July 1, 2022. “There needs to be more units available for people with different types of incomes,, which will not only fix the diversity issue in housing but a mixture of incomes in that community will attract different types of people,” said Adam Lane, Neighborhood Services supervisor in Surprise. According to Realtor.com, the average price for a single-family house in Surprise is $435,000-$456,000. The average individual income is $34,000, and the average household income is $69,000, hardly enough to afford the steep mortgage that comes with homes priced in the $400,000s. The average cost of rent in Surprise is $1,700 for 975 square feet, also a difficult monthly payment for someone making less than $35,000. Lane said that there are more homeowners than renters in Surprise, and the city needs a balance. Surprise compared to other cities due to the fact that it is a new city and has been expanded throughout time. With the way the market is currently, affordable housing seems impossible to find, however, as more people move here, more jobs will become available. Another factor that contributes to the affordable housing issue is the cost of the transportation of goods and materials. It costs money to transfer housing materials by truck, plane, or sea and the fact that gas is so expensive has made it difficult for developers to expand. Since all of the apartment complexes are full, it was suggested that 3% of the units be set aside to specifically accept residents with vouchers. These properties only have a specific time frame where they are considered affordable and then the initial prices come back. Although this decision is based on the amount of people needing houses, the council members came to the conclusion that the quickest way to start fixing the problem is by creating new, affordable units. Alyssa Beavers has been a resident of Surprise for nine years. She said there is a lack of racial diversity in the city and “you can feel it,” although she said she “the real divide is the age gap, not race.” Surprise resident Bella Grokhowsky, who has lived in Surprise for 15 years, disagreed. “Surprise is diverse in my opinion. It’s not as diverse as other parts of the Valley, but this area is still growing so that will continue to bring in people of all backgrounds,” she said. Overall, having more affordable units available is extremely important to people in Phoenix. Affordable housing impacts the city’s business and industries due to the fact that it brings in more people from diverse backgrounds and different income levels.