TUCSON, AZ (April 8, 2024) -- The City of Tucson Housing & Community Development Department (HCD) has released its 2023 annual report. This report highlights the continued progress HCD has made with addressing homelessness, creating and preserving affordable housing stock, and community reinvestment through the $50 million Choice Neighborhoods Implementation grant for the Thrive in the 05 area.
The City of Tucson's Housing First program provided housing navigation services to 1,657 people in 2023. Through the use of American Rescue Plan funds awarded by the State of Arizona, the City of Tucson purchased a mobile shower trailer to continue to address the needs of people experiencing homelessness in Tucson. Mobile shower services are provided four days/week at different sites in Tucson. The City’s mobile shower program offers showers for unsheltered persons at places frequented by individuals and families experiencing homelessness. The mobile shower unit served 643 people in 2023.
The City of Tucson currently has 1,200 units of affordable housing. In 2023, 63 affordable housing units for Tucsonans 55+ broke ground at Milagro on Oracle, the first Low Income Housing Tax Credit for the City of Tucson in 10 years. 28 units of city-owned affordable housing were rehabilitated in Midtown Tucson, and 31 units are in permitting for the Amazon Shelter.
In July 2023, the City of Tucson was one of eight communities selected to receive the $50 million Choice Neighborhoods Implementation grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The grant will continue the work that began in 2018 and focus on rehabilitating Tucson House and residents and neighborhoods in the Thrive in the 05 area.
In the opening of her letter from the director, Ann Chanecka wrote, “Under the leadership of Liz Morales and the Mayor and Council, HCD stretched its limits in recent years to implement new plans such as the Housing Affordability Strategy for Tucson (HAST) and build new programs like a housing development arm and Housing First to address the growing housing crisis.” And she ended the letter with, “In 2024, we will focus on sustainability. We must ensure that HCD’s vital services continue and that staff have the necessary tools to serve our community.”