Habitat for Humanity of Northern Arizona plans to launch low-cost starter home projects in Winslow, Fredonia and Payson.
They come as the nonprofit is about halfway through construction on a similar project in Flagstaff.
The effort is designed to help new homeowners get a foot into local housing markets.
The starter homes help residents build wealth for up to 10 years before they buy their next home.
Flagstaff is notorious for high housing costs. Over the last two decades, the average price of a home in Flagstaff has risen nearly 200%, while median incomes have only increased by 70%.
But Northern Arizona Habitat chapter CEO Eric Wolverton said the issue is just as acute in other communities, in part because of lower average incomes.
“You just go 45 minutes to the east to Winslow, much cheaper to live there,” Wolverton said. “But that means your minimum wage is going to be much less. So that means your cost of housing is actually going to be on a ratio the same as Flagstaff.”
Wolverton said some outlying communities have struggled to find housing for essential local employees like teachers and police.
“Especially border towns like up in Fredonia and Page, they're so remotely removed from any other big municipality,” he said. That means it's not feasible to find housing in a neighboring community.”
In response to the shortage, Habitat will build 24 homes in Winslow and is working with a Community Presbyterian Church in Payson on a two-home pilot project.
Wolverton said Habitat is planning to break ground on those developments this spring.
The project in Fredonia is still in pre-development.
According to Wolverton, the developments across the region have benefited from having a clear development path, following the starter-home project in Flagstaff.
That effort includes 40 homes and was built as part of Capstone Home’s Timber Sky development. Wolverton said it has shown how similar projects can work, even across the country.
“The problem with housing, it's not a Flagstaff-centric issue. It's not an Arizona issue. It is a countrywide issue,” Wolverton said. “We created this program for Habitat here in Flagstaff, and now we are expanding it out to not only our areas, but to other Habitat affiliates across the country. As they're seeing their communities are struggling with the same demands as Flagstaff, they're looking at us as the solution to their problem.”
And it’s a program that’s been attractive to residents and community leaders in rural areas.
“So these small, conservative-leaning communities, they're looking for a hand up, not a handout. And that’s what Habitat provides. That is our motto,” Wolverton said.
But while starter-home projects across the region progress, the future of the program in Flagstaff is uncertain.
Wolverton said he would like to build additional homes there, but after the partnership with Capstone Homes’ Timber Sky project, it’s unclear where the next development in the city could be located.
“We are almost done with Timber Sky. We'll be wrapped up within about eight months from now,” Wolverton said. “We want to start that early development work right now [on the next project in Flagstaff]. But when we reached out to our partners at the city, unfortunately, at this time, it seems like they cannot find the land within their inventory to be able to provide us with opportunities to build.”
“We need the city to step up to the plate,” he said.
In a statement to KNAU, City of Flagstaff spokesperson Sarah Langley said the city is proud of its nearly 30-year partnership with Habitat for Humanity, including on the project within Timber Sky.
She added that the city releases land for development through a public procurement process and encourages all potential builders to apply.
Meanwhile, Mayor Becky Daggett said in a statement that housing affordability remains a top priority.
“Our community deserves an ‘all hands on deck’ approach to addressing this problem and I appreciate every partner who’s doing this work with us,” Daggett said.
