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“In many parts of Arizona, this phenomenon could affect the housing supply for 25% to 30% of the population,” the report says.
Exacerbating the affordability problem, “there are fewer married couple families in the state today and more single householder families,” the report finds. “For single parent families and single person households, the rising cost of housing is a significant issue.”
If they are not part of dual income families, typical workers could well experience problems in finding affordably priced housing. The Arizona Department of Economic Security provided some examples of the average wages for a number of occupations and the housing costs those workers could afford in 2000:
- Bank teller: average income, $20,000; affordable home, $55,000; affordable rent, $467
- Dental assistant: average income, $22,800; affordable home, $62,000; affordable rent, $532
- Police officer: average income, $42,500; affordable home, $115,000; affordable rent, $1,060
- Teacher: average income, $35,900; affordable home, $97,000; affordable rent, $900
- Fire fighter: average income, $40,500; affordable home, $110,000; affordable rent, $1,000
Median home prices during the third quarter of 2001 were $149,000 in Phoenix-Mesa, $135,000 in Tucson and $155,000 in Flagstaff.
In a telephone survey across the state, the five greatest barriers to housing affordability were identified as:
- High land cost/limited land availability (47.5% of survey respondents)
- Lack of infrastructure (29.4%)
- Wage gap (28.6%)
- Lack of employment opportunities (27%)
- Zoning (20%)
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