AFP-AZ's Shadegg Talks Housing Market and Shawna Bolick's Bill to Make Arizona Homes More Affordable

PHOENIX—Stephen Shadegg, Director of Americans for Prosperity's Arizona chapter, discussed the state of the Grand Canyon State's housing market and how it can be made more affordable and accessible to first-time homebuyers in a recent interview with Cactus Politics, saying, "You have to trust the free market."

"The housing market in Arizona is, quite frankly, beyond in dire need of smaller, lower-cost homes." Shadegg began, describing how the average price for a house is $450,000, and the average age of a first-time homebuyer is 38 years old.

However, he noted that "there is a solution to this problem" in the form of State Senator Shawnna Bolick's SB 1229 or "Arizona Starter Home Act," which Shadegg said, "essentially is a preemption of zoning, so it allows for cities to set the general code."

"The general code allows the city to set the vision for what they want their city to look like," Shadegg continued, adding, "and in that vision, they can determine what scale or what size of homes they want without defining it, like say, 'We want our community to thrive with single family homes that allow for growth in the future,' and they can define that when they go to zoning as no small homes."

Specifically, the bill allows for the construction of 1,200 to 1,500-square-foot houses on 3,000-square-foot lots; thus, these "starter homes" will be $100,000 cheaper than the current average price.

"The problem is," however, as Shadegg noted, "is that there are a large number of individuals, specifically in the West Valley, where a lot of growth is taking place, that believe it is going to lead to tiny homes like in Texas," although he quickly said that the belief was "misinformation," as tiny homes are 300 to 600-square-feet.

He continued, "You have to trust the free market."

"When you trust the free market, understand that a home builder is not going to build a bunch of tiny homes in the middle of Anthem because nobody is going to want to buy tiny homes in the middle of Anthem," Shadegg continued.

After all, while critics may say the bill is an example of state government overreach, "what will ultimately happen is we will see that families stop saving for homes, and they will be staying in their apartments, and they will turn to government subsidies, and we will essentially ruin the American Dream for people across this country."

"And at the end of the day, what happens is that we lose an opportunity to educate individuals on the value of owning property and what it means to actually have skin in the game," Shadegg concluded, adding, "which I think could actually lead to more individuals valuing conservatism who maybe did not before."