First complex to use affordable housing tax credit breaks ground in Glendale

by Scott Graff

By: AZ Big Media

Construction is underway on an affordable housing complex funded in part by a state low-income housing tax credit and lauded by state and local officials who gathered at the building site Friday.

Gorman and Co. — one of the nation’s largest producers of affordable housing — announced Centerline on Glendale will be the first rental home community financed using Arizona’s low-income housing tax credit. The 368 apartments are expected to be completed in fall 2024.

“As a social worker, I know firsthand how crucial stable housing can be to physical, emotional and economic well-being,” Gov. Katie Hobbs said at the Friday news conference, promising more support for projects that address homelessness or help residents who are one paycheck away from losing their home.

“Our housing policy agenda calls for expanding this program and making it permanent, just like we want to do with the housing trust fund,” Hobbs said.

According to the National Low-Income Housing Coalition, workers need to earn more than $23 per hour to afford a two-bedroom rental home in Arizona, where as of January, the hourly minimum wage is $13.85. One in five renter households in the state are considered extremely low income, according to NLIHC.

In July 2021, the Arizona Legislature passed SB 1124 creating a low-income housing tax credit for investors who have income tax liability in the state. It lets investors offset the cost of building much-needed affordable housing units in the state, but it caps the credit at $4 million per year for projects placed in service or ready for occupancy between June 30, 2022, and Dec. 31, 2025.

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