Ducey signs law to help increase affordable housing development

PHOENIX — Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed a bill last week that will remove the cap of the size of affordable housing apartment communities built by developers wanting to qualify for a property tax exemption.

The bill — HB2610 — allows for more construction of larger apartment communities across the state that will income-eligible tenants can rent, according to a press release.

Tom Simplot, the Arizona Department of Housing Director, said in the release that the new law will aid with increasing affordable housing by ridding of any unnecessary barriers to development.

“By removing this burdensome regulation, non-profits can build larger affordable housing communities and still receive the tax break they need for these projects,” Simplot said in the release.

Before the bill was signed into law, non-profit developers only qualified for real estate tax exemptions — that have no direct cost to the state — for apartment communities of 200 units or less, the release said.

“The need in Arizona is real and this law is a positive step in broadening a non-profit’s ability to develop a larger number of affordable housing units.”

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