Developers

This was supposed to be a community center such as a church, daycare, or public space.

 

The construction in my neighborhood is all completed as far as houses. However there was a plot of land in a corner that was being preserved as open space until a community use could be found for it. It was supposed to be a church, daycare, senior center, or similar. However Flagstaff is in a "housing crisis" and a developer convinced the zoning board and city council to rezone this for a three story structure as "affordable housing." Prices will start over $300,000. The reality is these will likely be snapped up by people who have $300,000 of cash on hand, especially since interest rates remain high. Some units will be bought on investment, others will be bought as second or third homes, still others will be turned into AirBnB by-the-day rentals.

I sincerely doubt these units will do anything to alleviate the "housing crisis" that supposedly exists in Flagstaff. Instead, the public panic over housing prices just provided an opening for a billion dollar development company to make yet more money off the local market, without providing anything of significant value to the city or the neighborhood (except for rich people and tourists).

I'm pretty skeptical about our supposedly progressive local government, especially since it is usually the case that local politicians are involved in real estate. It seems awfully suspicious to me that constructing more housing as a progressive policy just happens to coincide with developers using yet more land and destroying yet more open space in return for making millions.

If this project really alleviated the shortage of affordable housing for working residents of Flagstaff, it would be understandable, but it appears to me it won't do that, nor do I think that was really the motivation for the rezoning.

It was just about money and serving those who already have it.