ARIZONA DAILY STAR: Fri., June 22, 2007
Soaring housing costs worry SV City Council
By Gabriela Rico
Soaring home prices in Sierra Vista mean a growing number of residents are living in homes they cannot afford, a new study says. The median price of a home in the Sierra Vista area rose 93% between 2001 and 2006, from $106,500 to $205,500, according to the Cochise College Center for Economic Research.
"It's absolutely amazing," Mary Jacobs, Sierra Vista's assistant city manager, said of home prices.
Real estate agents report that investors who buy homes to rent to soldiers from Fort Huachuca have helped keep prices high. A steady stream of people retiring from California also contributes to the higher prices. Concern about the lack of affordable housing prompted the City Council to appoint a housing task force which is expected to submit a report later this month, Jacobs said.
"We're very concerned," she said. "The council is very supportive of affordable-housing projects."
The city's Housing Affordability Index dropped from 160.6 in 2001 to 100.3 in 2006. The index measures the ability of a family earning the median income to afford a median-priced home.
"The 2001 HAI value of 160.6 means that, in that year, a family with the median income had 60% more income than was necessary to afford the median-priced home," the study said. "In 2006, this dropped to only 0.3% more income than was necessary." The study measured only the number of units, not their condition.
"Certain affordable low-income housing, while counted as part of the potential supply, may be of such inferior quality as to be deemed unlivable," the study said. "Such a situation, to the extent it exists, makes worse the shortages of affordable housing identified in the study."