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Tucson’s land use regulations hinder the availability of transitional housing

Tucson’s land use regulations hinder the availability of transitional housing

Sandra Westdahl, AZPM

Tucson’s land use regulations prohibit certain types of developments, which experts say could help combat the shortage of temporary and transitional housing.

Earlier this year, the municipal boards of Districts 3 and 6 commissioned the University of Arizona’s Drachman Institute to study what Tucson could do to make its land use regulations more friendly to certain high-density developments.

One of these types of developments is microhousing, which, according to researchers Bill Mackey and Greg Veitch, are collections of small, short-term residential units designed specifically for social services.

According to research coordinator Veitch, Tucson’s current land use regulations contain many hurdles to microhousing and often require a rezoning process that can extend approval time by up to a year.

“It can only be done with a comprehensive process, with community participation and possibly the approval of the mayor and council,” Veitch said.

And a deeper problem, said Mackey, a professor in the School of Architecture, is that code design is biased toward the most vulnerable populations.

“If you’re being abused, if you’re a young teenager, if you’re homeless, if you’re mentally ill, all of that has to go through an approval process that takes a long time, but these people also have to go in front of influential people and say ‘Can I live here?’, which is really sad,” he said.

An example of these hurdles is parking. According to the report, Tucson has strict requirements for off-street parking and site maneuverability for any project with more than six residential units.

For high-density residential areas, the regulations require at least one space per unit, which Mackey said doesn’t need to be as strict for the population that micro-housing would serve.

And in Tucson, there are many examples of areas that are slated for higher density development, Mackey said, but that have physical limitations that hinder development.

“If you have an R3 zone that claims to be high density, like 80 units per acre or some ridiculous number, in reality you can only get about four lots on it,” he said.

Another reason is the actual language in the land use law, including the definition of a “house.”

“A house is made up of related individuals and families, and if there are more than five people living in a house who are not related to each other, that’s not really allowed in most zones,” Mackey said.

In the report, Veitch and Mackey looked for successful examples of micro-conservation communities in Portland, Oregon, as well as what Veitch described as more friendly lawful development laws.

“This means that as long as they legally comply with the building and zoning regulations, they can simply apply to the relevant jurisdiction and be entitled to a permit. They don’t need the approval of others, neither the neighbors nor the mayor,” said Veitch.

Mackey said changing land use regulations doesn’t happen overnight and will most likely start on a microscale, with individual neighborhood organizations starting the conversation.

In the short term, however, the report recommends a number of more immediate actions the City Council could potentially take, including issuing an emergency declaration for vulnerable populations.

The Portland Safe Rest Villages mentioned in the report had its approval expedited through an emergency declaration by Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler in 2022.

Veitch and Mackey said the Tucson City Council now knows this is an option.

Another challenge is combating the surrounding community’s reaction to such developments, which is associated with NIMBY-ism, or the reluctance of certain residents to housing developments that serve the vulnerable.

Mackey said combating the stigma surrounding these issues is a good start.

“There is a lot of fear when it comes to property,” he said. “Just having more educational conversations to allay the fear, maybe that’s the way to go.”

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