Arizona has an housing affordability crisis on top of drastically low inventory, so the ability to find a home becomes increasingly harder every year.  In the current market I have seen rents increase 20% or higher on top of historical inflation nearing 7% the impact is near devastating to families struggling to get by in midst of a global pandemic. Residents have ever increasing rents coupled with wages don’t match inflation.  Native residents are being pushed out of their homes due to skyrocketing cost of living, low wages and no protection for renters being in place to prevent this. 

According to Human Services Campus (HSC) executive director Amy Schwabenlender. The campus is the entry point for homelessness services for single adults. They are seeing the largest influx and its continuing to rise at levels not seen before.

Understanding that Arizona is growing and people are flocking to the beautiful state there should also be reasonable safeguards in place to allow tenants in good standing to negotiate terms or renewal or have a rental cap increase as most states already have in place.  

Lets say a landlord increases the rent 3% -5% each year. This is creating growth yet is is a manageable increase for most families to make the necessary adjustments. However when homes are faced with a $450-$700 monthly increase often times a family is not in a position to make that kind of adjustment.  What about our elderly population on fixed incomes?  This could be crushing.  Imagine your parents choosing to eat or buy medication or pay the rent.  What if you are a single parent?  In Maricopa County alone 32% of the population are single parent homes.  Households with one income are often at the lower end of the income bracket and now they are forced to make tough decisions often working several jobs, going without necessities  and telling your children no to items to make sure they can keep a roof over their families. From a property management standpoint I feel like you are forcing great tenants out of a home that was once affordable only to leave a vacancy. Eventually it will be filled yes however doesn't it make more sense to negotiate with good tenants retaining excellent retention and have a smaller overall vacancy.

Another problem I see with rents going up so drastically is that rentals will potentially have multiple families reside in one unit  to keep it affordable to live therefore possibly leading to a multitude of issues including overcrowding, potential fire and safety violations.  Properties companies have use the fair housing law as a way to say that blanket rent increases are somehow fair when the fair housing act is meant to protect the persons renting from discrimination.

The goal of the Fair Housing Act, enacted as part of the 1968 Civil Rights Act, is to eliminate discrimination. Arizona law protects your right to have a place to live and makes it unlawful for any person to discriminate in connection with housing because of an individual’s race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status or physical or mental disability

Please sign this petition to look at ways of implementing some much needed safeguards to our local Arizonans that are working hard to maintain a life they love.  We need to have reasonable rent increase caps for Properties. Right now the sky is the limit for Landlords in Arizona in the name of PURE PROFIT off the backs of hardworking families faced to make hard choices or become homeless. Together we can fight to bring change that is good for both persons looking to invest in the future and those raising the next generation of Arizonans. Families first!  Make your VOICE COUNT FOR CHANGE