Greater Phoenix led the nation in new homes last year, far ahead of Los Angeles County and Harris County, Texas.
Maricopa County, which contains the Sun Belt city, added 38,310 homes, edging out L.A. and Harris counties, which both added about 32,000 units, AZCentral reported, citing figures from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Developers in Maricopa County built far more homes, apartments and mobile homes than the rest of Arizona. The next-largest jump in housing units was in Pima County, which added 5,800.
Building new housing has been a major goal for Arizona, as cities across the state face a shortage of affordable housing, according to AZCentral. But no region trumps housing development like the Valley of the Sun.
In February, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego announced the city had built or preserved 50,000 new units since 2020 — a 2030 housing goal reached five years early.
A large housing market anchored by a growing city is expected to produce big numbers for new production, but what matters is whether it meets or nears its goals.
LA County, for example, ranks second nationally but appears to be nowhere near its goal for housing production.
Phoenix, with plenty of available land to build on, more than met its goal, with new housing accounting for the lion’s share of the increase.
The city’s Housing Phoenix Plan, launched in 2020, aimed to address the housing crisis by boosting the supply of multifamily, single-family and affordable housing. The plan resulted in the construction of 53 percent market-rate units, 25 percent workforce units and 22 percent affordable units, according to AZCentral.
Gallego said the feat reflected “political will and determination” to make a “real impact” for the region, despite market-rate forces working against the city.
“The future-ready city we want to build is bustling with economic activity that can only continue flourishing if we have the support to house our workforce,” the mayor told AZCentral in February.
The Phoenix housing plan aimed to find the best areas to build apartments, while making affordable housing easier and cheaper to build. Its biggest goal was to build or preserve 50,000 housing units, which was roughly what the market was already producing.
Former Phoenix housing director Cindy Stotler said the plan’s chief accomplishment was helping elected officials and the public understand the importance of affordable housing — while giving the City Council political cover when they caught flak for apartment proposals.
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