Tim Steller’s opinion: Tucson can’t dawdle in addressing affordable housing crisis | Subscriber

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“It is a mistake to come up with this regulation for review after the multi-year process that staff has gone through with the public,” she said. “I’m really frustrated with it because we’re thinking of the worst-case scenario and trying to narrow it down.”

The changes, she concluded, could make it difficult for ordinary people to build a guest house or “casita” so that only developers could do it.

“I think we have to take serious action on the Tucson housing crisis, and we have to acknowledge that this is a small but first incremental step in countering it,” she said. “We still have so much to do”

OpenDoor draws home here

And that’s the point – the casita regulation is just a small step and we’re still dawdling with it. Although guesthouse rents rose 44.8% from $ 788 per month to $ 1,141 from October 2020 to October 2021, according to the Tucson Association of Realtors.

I spoke to real estate experts in Tucson and they cited various factors behind the price spike. Most of the time they say there is insufficient care. That said, Randy Rogers, CEO of the Tucson Association of Realtors, adding that there will be a five to ten year delay before the offer can catch up.

Omar Mireles, President of HSL Properties noted that there was a 10-year period that ended around 2015 when rents in Tucson more or less stagnated. That kept house developers from building, he said.

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