As the New Year inches closer, Californians are gearing up to navigate a slew of new housing laws, ones that promise a potential easing of the state's notorious housing crisis. Arizona seems to share a similar story, with an upcoming elimination of state rental tax—a move expected to put a modest amount of extra change back into renters' pockets. "Our landlord told us about it right when we were entering into a new lease because we just got into a new one,” Jaden Person told ABC15. This new Arizona legislation, taking effect January 1, could save renters from 1.5 to three percent depending on their locale within the valley, yet cities, like Phoenix, express concern over the loss of tax revenue for various services.
Property owners also have something to look forward to with the statewide standardization of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), commonly referred to as casitas. Arizona cities with a population threshold of 75,000 will have local casita ordinances in place, or else these supplementary housing units will be permitted by default on all residential lots. "It’s a major accomplishment for me and my wife because we’re owner build and it’s a lot of work," Bob Hunter explained to ABC15 about his hopes for the legislation to alleviate housing strains. These changes, however, aren't particularly ambitious, especially when juxtaposed with imaginative housing policy shifts observed nationally.
Mixed-income public housing ventures and "Yes in God’s Backyard" (YIGBY) initiatives have breathed new life into the policy landscape, taking clever advantage of existing social infrastructure, from religious institutions to government agencies. The YIGBY project, for instance, saw a local Black church in San Diego metamorphose a 7,000-square-foot lot into 25 apartments for seniors, and veterans, something other states are looking to replicate, as per VOX. Meanwhile, California is no stranger to creative housing responses, as evidenced by their latest experiment in San Bernardino, which conglomerates factory-built homes, ADUs, and community land trusts into a synergistic affordability strategy. Affordable dorm-style living, another novel concept, leverages the post-pandemic office vacancy surge to offer cost-effective urban housing, with shared amenities guiding the economics of conversion.
