Pima County Board approves $8.7 million investment in affordable housing, housing stability

affordable housing
Ribbon cutting ceremony at Desert Dove apartments, a joint venture that provides 63 affordable housing units to Pima County residents.

PIMA COUNTY, (Sept. 10, 2026) — The Pima County Board of Supervisors approved an $8.7 million investment at its Sept. 8 meeting to expand the supply of affordable housing and help residents remain safely housed.

The Fiscal Year 2027 allocation from the County’s Regional Affordable Housing Fund includes $5 million to develop and preserve affordable housing and $3.7 million for programs that help people remain in their homes, including home repair, weatherization, rental and utility assistance, and rapid rehousing.

The allocation continues Pima County’s investment in two complementary approaches to addressing housing insecurity:

  • Build More, which supports the development and preservation of affordable housing
  • Keep People Housed, which provides assistance aimed at preventing residents from losing their housing

The Board’s action follows a unanimous recommendation from the Pima County Regional Affordable Housing Commission, which reviewed the performance of both funding categories at its Aug. 21 meeting.

Through FY26, Pima County invested about $24.5 million through the two categories. Those investments helped add 618 affordable housing units to the community’s inventory, including 23 bridge and transitional housing units for people experiencing homelessness. Another 1,239 units are in planning or development, while programs funded through Keep People Housed have helped 910 households remain safely and stably housed.

With the FY27 allocation, the County’s total investment through the Regional Affordable Housing Fund will surpass $33 million. The new funding comes in the first year of Pima County’s Regional Housing Strategy & Funding Plan, a 10-year blueprint that calls for a $250 million County investment in housing solutions and anticipates leveraging additional state and federal resources.

“Pima County’s investments are producing tangible results — more affordable homes are available, more are on the way, and hundreds of households have received help to remain safely housed,” said Dan Sullivan, the director of the

, which staffs the Regional Affordable Housing Commission and administers housing and job assistance programs.

“This $8.7 million investment recognizes that we have to do both if we want to make meaningful progress on housing affordability in Pima County.”

Pima County is accepting applications through Sept. 30 for FY27 gap-funded projects for affordable housing development and preservation.

The County’s affordable housing investments support the goals of the Prosperity Initiative, including improving housing stability among low-income renters and homeowners, preventing evictions and foreclosures, increasing the supply of affordable housing and reducing home energy and weatherization costs.

The Board’s action also aligns with the One Pima Initiative, which calls for coordinated efforts to stabilize housing and prevent homelessness. One of One Pima’s first-year accomplishments is the development of a shelter dashboard that gives caseworkers, family members and friends real-time information about shelter bed availability for people in need.