By Rofida Khairalla | Pinal Central
QUEEN CREEK — Who are the people who need affordable housing? And how are developers hoping to help address a shortage facing thousands of Arizonans?
Those were some of the questions that a panel of developers attempted to address at the monthly meeting of Pinal Partnership on Friday. The event was hosted at Schnepf Farms in Queen Creek.
Pinal has not been immune to some of the issues the housing shortage has caused, especially as industry in the county continues to grow. Among the biggest hurdles facing county residents is affordable housing.
Some, however, may have some preconceived notions about what affordable housing actually is, Dan Klocke told attendees at Friday’s meeting.
Klocke is the director of development at Gorman & Company, an affordable housing developer with projects in 13 states across the nation.
The company has worked on a number of affordable housing developments in Arizona in areas such as Phoenix, Prescott, Chandler, Tucson, Glendale, Globe, Tempe, Yuma, Surprise, Nogales and Avondale.
Gorman is currently working on developments in downtown Casa Grande, which are to consist of 220 units constructed over three phases. The project, Klocke noted, will include some infill involving older buildings in the area. They include the historic Casa Grande Hotel as well as the locally well-known Shonessy House.
“Affordable housing is housing for folks typically who are making less than 60% of the area median income,” Klocke said on Friday. “So in Pinal County, the 60% area median income for… a single person in a household (is) $43,000. That’s $21.50 an hour.”
For a two-person household, Klocke noted that the 60% median income in Pinal is $49,000 annually, or $24.50 an hour.
