Democrats in the Arizona Legislature have introduced a bill to combat the state’s affordable housing crisis.
Senator Catherine Miranda and Representative Lydia Hernandez have sponsored measures that would create a statewide eviction diversion and prevention program and launch an effort to renovate vacant commercial and state-owned spaces to use for affordable housing.
It would also create a bill of rights for those experiencing homelessness and fund a grant program for towns, cities and Indigenous communities to find housing and mental health and substance abuse services for unsheltered people.
A recent study from the National Low Income Housing Coalition showed Arizona is one of the worst states in the nation for affordable housing and has some of the highest inflation rates in the country.