The Pima County Board of Supervisors is proposing a new property tax to help build more affordable housing and reduce homelessness. The goal is to raise $207 million over the next decade.
Pima County Supervisor Matt Heinz, of District 2, proposed the idea to add a 3 cent tax per $100 of assessed property value. The increase would raise the primary tax rate to $4.2599 and the total property tax rate to $5.2617, according to a May 5 memo from Pima County Administrator Jan Lesher.
That would add around $7 per year for an average homeowner in Pima County.
“Housing insecurity continues to go up and up and up,” Heinz said at the May 6 supervisors meeting. “This is not sustainable. I believe we at the county have a role to play here.”
He said the tax would generate enough money to build about 12,500 homes over the next decade.
The supervisors voted unanimously to continue their discussion of the proposal at the next meeting on May 20.
According to a 2024 report from ECONorthwest, the county will need an additional 38,584 affordable housing units over the next decade.
The same report found that the median household income in Pima County rose by 16% from 2000 to 2023. Over the same period, the median home value in Pima County increased by 200%.
Given rising home prices and rising levels of homelessness, the county has been attempting to address the lack of affordable housing as part of its 10-year Integrated Infrastructure Plan.
Keith Bentele, a professor at the University of Arizona’s Southwest Institute of Research on Women spoke to the supervisors during the call to the audience at the May 6 meeting, calling the proposal “a very modest ask, and a very appropriate and reasonable approach.”
“When I think of adding 3 cents I put that into the other costs we incur when not investing in housing,” said Supervisor Jen Allen, of District 3.
Expressing her support for investing in more affordable housing, Allen also explained why she supports the property tax approach.
“Of all the tools that are out there for any community, property tax is the most progressive tool, from taking money where there is more capacity and taking less money where there is less capacity,” Allen said.
A March 20 county memo set possible targets for a housing strategy and funding plan, including “maintaining an average of 5,800 residential building permits a year.”
The CEO of the Primavera Foundation Tisha Tallman, wrote a letter of support for Heinz’s proposal. Primavera focuses on helping people out of poverty and homelessness.
“Thank you for taking bold, local action to address such a dire challenge in our community,” Tallman wrote in a letter shared with Luminaria.
According to an April 10 letter from Heinz to Lesher, the proposed tax will “preserve affordable housing units and keep people housed, in a meaningful way over the next decade.”
Heinz read excerpts from letters of support for the proposed tax he received from constituents, one mentioning the “glaring and growing need” for more affordable housing.
In light of possible cuts from the federal government on affordable housing problems, Heinz called it “an incredibly impactful thing we can do. We can make this commitment not to take care of the entire problem over the next decade but to take care of about a third of it.”
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