Affordable Housing Survey for Sedona Workforce
AS SEEN IN THE RED ROCK NEWS
December 20, 2019
What do you like or dislike about your current housing condition? If affordable housing was available in Sedona, would you be interested in living in the City?
These aren’t rhetorical questions; they are part of an online survey you can answer right now if you work for or own a business in Sedona: http://www.edpco.com/sedona/. The survey is a critical step in the City’s efforts to address housing costs which make living in Sedona increasingly difficult for Sedona’s workforce.
You can add specific thoughts through open-ended questions and a space for general comments. The anonymous survey takes less than 10 minutes to complete. Policy makers will use the data to help draft housing programs for consideration by the City Council.
The median price of a home in Sedona is now $562,500, more than twice the Arizona median home price and ten times the area’s median household income. Available rental housing is limited by SB1350, the state law that prevents cities from prohibiting short-term vacation rentals, which has had a sharp effect in Sedona and all of Arizona.
The City Council has directed staff to create a five-year affordable housing action plan and in April, Council allocated $1 million to the affordable housing fund, which today totals approximately $2 million. The money can be used to acquire land, offer down payment assistance, make loans, or for any activity that supports creation of affordable housing. Sustainable Sedona must be a place where business operators, employees and families build and share a diversified economy. That includes thriving schools and the businesses families rely on – from auto repair to childcare – plus the jobs they generate. Creating that balance hinges on getting our housing mix right.
If we assure that Sedona’s workforce and their families have every opportunity to live here, we inject fresh energy into our economy while encouraging future generations to envision building their lives and raising their own families here.
The survey is a step in that direction. Please take a few minutes to respond. You will find the survey at http://www.edpco.com/sedona/.
At this busy time, the Chamber team continues to work hard to make Sedona the best place to live, work, play and visit. This holiday season they have already assisted in the Tlaquepaque Tree Lighting & Santa Visit, Breakfast Uptown’s ‘Merry Midpoint’ and the Holiday Mixer. From all of us at the Sedona Chamber of Commerce & Tourism Bureau, our more than 850 partners, volunteers and Board of Directors extend our very best holiday wishes to you and your family.
Amidst the festivities, I hope you find time to reflect on all we have to be grateful for at this special time of year.
–Jennifer Wesselhoff