In February Robert Mawson, community and economic development manager with Central Arizona Governments (CAG), presented the Globe City Council with the draft of a regional housing study and gap analysis. That report, completed in October 2021, outlined a variety of housing needs and development obstacles in the Globe-Miami community.

Mawson called the draft document, commissioned by the City of Globe, Town of Miami and local partners, “a snapshot in time” of the  housing situation. He emphasized that it was not a housing market study or plan, but developers could use it as a springboard to form plans. For example, he said, the report caught the attention of Gorman & Company, who plan to renovate the former Hill Street School to create affordable senior housing.

The report’s study area included Globe, Miami, Claypool and Central Heights/Midland City. Relying mainly on the 2019  American Community Survey (ACS), it found that local housing needs run the gamut - “Our gap is everywhere,” said Mawson. “Pretty much every level of housing is stuck at this point in time because there’s just not enough of anything and people are reluctant to leave what they have.”

Reopening the former school for senior living is not the only solution being pursued. In a March 8 meeting, Globe’s City Council approved a preliminary plat for a proposed 84-unit subdivision, Rayes Ridge; at the county level, the Gila County Community Services Department aims to promote affordable housing.

A few findings

“We need to try and find those niches of housing that we can improve,” Councilmember Mariano Gonzalez said in February’s meeting.

Examining the study area, the CAG report found an aging population and housing stock, increasing difficulty in building affordable housing, a need for not only more subsidized housing but also all types of market rate housing, terrain and infrastructure issues that deter development, a disconnect between local residents and local jobs, and a lack of options for the homeless.

The area holds four subsidized housing facilities, with 199 units of different sizes, and about the same number of affordable housing complexes – all of which have been full or nearly full since they were built, and can have years-long waiting lists. There is also a small number of assisted living units at nursing facilities and group homes. As for the homeless in Globe-Miami, there are currently no shelters.

Based on the 2019 ACS, the report concluded that 544 households could benefit from additional subsidized rental units.

Older homes – most units, the report found, were built before 2000 – and absentee owners, some of whom fail to keep up their properties, are also among local issues. “Most of these older homes face maintenance issues, both from deferred maintenance and general neglect,” it read.

High housing costs are another problem. According to the 2019 ACS a total of 1,087 local households pay more than 30% of their income for housing, and 907 of those are paying more than 35% - which, by HUD definition, qualifies as housing cost-burdened. Housing-related issues have affected local employers as well, making it harder to recruit and keep workers.

Rayes Ridge

With Council approval of its preliminary plat, one solution - the proposed 84-unit Rayes Ridge development - is a step closer to coming online. The next steps for this single-family subdivision will be approval of an improvement plan, final plat approval and recording with the county, and the issuing of construction permits. The preliminary plat was approved with these stipulations: Provide street names and addressing for review and approval; provide a minimum eight-foot public utility easement parallel to all rights-of-way; proposed intersection with Ice House Canyon Road is county jurisdiction and requires their approval and permitting; address county review comments to county’s satisfaction before receiving final plat approval and recordation; permission to grade and construct off-site is required from the affected property owners before permit issuance.

The preliminary plat will be effective for two years, giving time to prepare construction drawings as well as a traffic impact analysis that Gila County has requested from the applicant. While none of them oppose Rayes Ridge itself, neighboring property owners are concerned about traffic speeds and safety on Ice House Canyon Road. More traffic is projected there as the development opens, and the plat includes a new entry road off Ice House Canyon Road. “We’re all for it; we need affordable housing,” one neighbor, Misty Williams, said to councilmembers. “That traffic is crazy,” she added. “There have been five accidents, basically right in front of my house, because they drive out of control.”

The project will include extending water and sewer lines to the development, a large amount of natural open space and a northside emergency access location; one question brought up by council was whether that could be made into a secondary entry to relieve traffic. The preliminary plat contains three building phases, starting around the proposed new road; according to city staff, this area offered easier terrain to develop. “The site has considerable topographic challenges,” staff reported. “The third phase (of development), where the land approaches the hills, will require more excavation and grading.”

“We’re very thankful that this is really coming online,” said City of Globe Economic and Community Development Director Linda Oddonetto. “Even though it may seem to be in baby steps, it has happened in a short amount of time.”

Infill

“Perhaps the greatest opportunity. . . exists in the form of infill properties. Infill opportunities exist in most every neighborhood within the study area,” the report concluded. Infill properties are typically vacant or contain an abandoned home/building; a great majority have some or all major utilities to the property line.

“We have a number of properties out there that are dilapidated, that are vacant, that are even a hazard in many cases. Replacing these with newer homes can make all the difference,” said Mawson. Globe City Manager Paul Jepson cited a need to “get vacant properties back on the market.”

According to the 2019 ACS, there were 1,492 unoccupied units in the study area - an estimated 21.7% vacancy rate. Most were not being actively marketed. The report noted that in August 2021, according to Realtor.com, 63 vacant residential parcels were listed in Globe and five in Miami.

Some of the hurdles to infill development are securing property ownership, demolition and cleanup costs, and wastewater services – and the latter could be key to another possible solution. Many properties in Central Heights/Midland City were served by now-banned cesspools or inadequate septic tanks; some have even been abandoned for that reason. It is there that Tri-City Regional Sanitary District’s plans to install a wastewater treatment facility and connect sewer lines to area properties come in, perhaps bringing an opportunity to redevelop now-vacant properties.

Community Services and housing

“We’re one piece of a bigger puzzle,” said Gila County Community Services Director Malissa Buzan, whose department’s main goal is to promote affordable housing. “There are a lot of components to bringing in affordable or workforce housing. I think there’s room for all of that in our area.”

One way Community Services helps, as noted in the CAG report, is through a HUD Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program. “These vouchers are primarily used to assist in securing and paying monthly rent to individual property owners who maintain single-family, duplex or triplex rental units,” the report said. According to Buzan, Gila County has approximately 63 Section 8 vouchers; 53 belonging to the county and 10 port-ins (families or singles who have decided they want to live here). The report said 27 vouchers were available in southern Gila County, though the county does keep a waiting list that, according to the report, “consistently contains more than 150 applicants.”

“Our biggest Section 8 voucher population are low income seniors and the disabled,” Buzan said. “The county got an additional 15 vouchers for the homeless or families affected by Covid; finding housing for them is a bigger issue. Affordable housing is our goal, but like everybody else we’ve been beating the bushes for the clients we’re trying to serve. In our off hours, most of us are committed to affordable housing.” Buzan added that Community Services has housed 15 families and singles.

“Once all these (Hill Street School, Rayes Ridge, the TRSD wastewater system and the proposed Copper Creek development in east Globe) break ground, I think this area will definitely grow,” she said. “I think that little by little we’re starting to chip away, and we’ll see more housing starts coming in.”

Conclusions

In summing up, Central Arizona Governments recommended that local governments start a collaborative effort to develop a housing action plan for the greater Globe-Miami area.

“This has been an incredibly valuable tool,” Oddonetto said of the CAG report. After a 45-day comment period, it will be brought back to City Council for final adoption.