Yes. Over 90% of rental households in Tucson surveyed in 2022 pay more than 30% of their household income toward housing costs according to the University of Arizona “Poverty in Tucson Project.” The Housing Affordability Strategy for Tucson (HAST) 2021 report highlights that rent costs increased 25.4% in Tucson between 2019 and 2021, while Median Household Income increased only 3.8%. Furthermore, as of January 2023, there were over 15,000 families on the waiting list for a Section 8 (government subsidized) housing voucher. Tucson’s section 8 program has about 5,200 vouchers, an allocation based on a HUD needs assessment completed in the 1990s. According to the 2023 NLIHC report, the amount of full-time jobs at minimum wage needed to afford the rent on a two-bedroom apartment in Tucson is 2.2. According to a recent study by the University of Arizona, there are almost 92,000 market and/or income-restricted units of affordable housing needed to accommodate the lower-income households who need affordable housing in Tucson.
To learn more about the need for affordable housing in Tucson, please see below:
SALT Housing Need Resource
National Low Income Housing Coalition 2023 Out of Reach – The High Cost of Housing Report
Family Housing Resources and UofA Housing Gap Analysis
