TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — In the 1960s, Tucson House was luxury apartments. And in the 1970s, the City of Tucson took it over and transformed it into public housing. For the last few years, the city has been working on a $188 million renovation plan.
In previous KGUN9 reporting from 2023, the city was planning on beginning construction in late 2024 or early 2025. Now, construction is set to begin in July of 2025, according to the City of Tucson's Housing and Community Development Deputy Director Johanna Hernandez. The project is set to take 30 months, completing one floor at a time.
"This is a big complex project with a lot of funding sources, so part of that delay is getting all of that lined up," she said. "We've only formally pushed it back like once."
But the delay and current conditions inside Tucson House concerns residents like Wendy Kaplan. She moved in during 2019 after being on the housing list for four years.
"I'm too embarrassed and humiliated to bring people into this building," she said. "I'm petrified of parasites and it's a real problem in this building."
She said from cockroaches and rodents to mold and unclean carpets, it's difficult to live at Tucson House. She said over the years, it's become worse. So she brought out her own carpet cleaner and air purifier.
"Why are tax payer dollars going toward cleaning the carpets when there's no such thing going on," Kaplan said. "This building has had water leaks all the time in the walls and halls.. Like mold is a problem that we deal with."
Jason Thorpe, a deputy director for City of Tucson Housing and Community Development, said the city does test for mold often and when issues are identified.
"We're looking for things like mold, challenges like that and addressing those," he said.
Kaplan said she's worried about the living conditions now and during construction.
"How tenable is that going to be with all that going on when it's barely tenable now," she said. "There's people here that should be able to live out their lives and not degraded in this way."
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Tina Giuliano is a reporter for KGUN 9. She is a native Arizonan and grew up in Scottsdale. Tina is passionate about storytelling and is excited to work telling Tucson's stories. Share your story ideas and important issues with Tina by emailing tina.giuliano@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
