Tucson’s land-use codes are prohibitive of certain types of developments that experts say could help combat a shortage of temporary and transitional housing.
Earlier this year, the council offices of Wards 3 and 6 commissioned the University of Arizona’s Drachman Institute to assess what Tucson could do to make its land use codes more friendly to certain high-density developments.
One of those development types is micro-shelters, which according to researchers Bill Mackey and Greg Veitch, are clusters of small short-term housing units designed with social services in mind.
Tucson’s current land-use codes include many hurdles for microshelters, often requiring a rezoning process that can add up to a year to the approval time, according to Research Coordinator Veitch.
“It's only allowed with a significant process, with community input, and potentially mayor and council approval,” Veitch said.
And a deeper problem, said School of Architecture professor Mackey, is the code design is stacked against the most vulnerable populations.
“If you're abused, if you're a young teen, if you're homeless, if you're mentally ill, all of that needs to go through an approval process that takes a long time, but also that these people have to go in front of powerful individuals to say, ‘Can I live here,’ which is really sad,” he said.
One example of these hurdles is parking. According to the report, Tucson has strict off-street parking and lot maneuverability requirements for any development over six units.
For high-density housing areas, codes require at least one spot per unit, which Mackey said does not need to be as strict for the populations microshelters would serve.
And Tucson has many examples of areas zoned for denser housing, said Mackey, but have physical limitations that discourage development.
“If you have an R3 zone, which is supposedly high density, like 80 units per acre, or some ridiculous number, you can really only get like four properties on it,” he said.
Another is the actual language within the land use code, including the definition of a “house.”
“A house is related individuals, family, and if you have more than five people that are unrelated living in a house, it's not really allowed in most zones,” Mackey said.
In the report, Veitch and Mackey looked to Portland, Oregon for successful examples of microshelter communities, as well as what Veitch describes as the more welcoming laws of by-right developments.
“What that means is, as long as they're legally following the building and zoning code, they can just apply to the jurisdiction and get granted a right for a permit. They don't have to get anyone else's approval, no neighbors approval, no mayor approval, to do that,” Veitch said.
Mackey said changing land-use codes does not happen overnight, and will most likely start on a micro-scale with individual neighborhood organizations starting the conversation.
But in the short term, the report recommends a number of more immediate actions the City Council could potentially take, including issuing an emergency declaration for vulnerable populations.
The Portland Safe Rest Villages mentioned in the report had expedited approval through an emergency declaration made by Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler in 2022.
Veitch and Mackey said the Tucson City Council is now aware this was an option.
Another challenge is combatting the surrounding community’s response to these types of developments, which goes hand-in-hand with NIMBY-ism, or the reluctance of certain residents to housing developments that serve the vulnerable.
Mackey said addressing the stigma of these issues is a good way to start.
“There's a lot of fear when it comes to property,” he said. “Just having more educational conversations trying to dispel fear, maybe that's the route to go.”
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