TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Governor Katie Hobbs came to Tucson to highlight an affordable housing project.
What you see here just behind Broadway and Stone in downtown Tucson is construction designed to help seniors get out of the deep hole that can happen when their low income collides with high housing prices, and it’s part of an overall effort to get more affordable housing across the state.
La Frontera is building the West Point Two apartments, and more than 22 million dollars from CVS Health is making them possible.
Governor Hobbs came to Tucson to praise the effort. CVS sees it as a key to good health if you have housing you can afford, near transportation, medical care and other necessities.
Jillda Schramsdi says, “I had five years of catastrophic disease. So all my retirement went to that.
She waited ten months until an opening in La Frontera’s West Point One apartments eased the pressure.
“I could pay all my bills, but I couldn't eat. You know, this here, the amount I pay is so much more reasonable than what's going on in the city of Tucson.”
The West Point Apartments are in downtown Tucson—a prime spot for strong city services. But community activists like Joe Miller worry about large low income projects like one slated for his Midvale Park neighborhood.
“Is there going to be the police to protect them and the fire to protect them? Do they have all the other things that come along with that? That's what government should be really doing.”
Miller feels like his community did not get a good chance to weigh in on the low income housing going in Midvale Park. We asked Governor Hobbs how to locate low income housing so it won’t stress a neighborhood where resources are thin.
She says, “We need affordable housing, where people live or where they want to live. And so it's important that we work with communities across the state whether it's in an urban area or more suburban, to address those issues. A lot of that comes from people not necessarily wanting those people in their neighborhood, we know it can be done and we have to work to build collaboration to address those issues.”
