The Arizona Department of Housing announced on Thursday, June 1, that it has allocated all of its annual $22 million share of 2024 federal low-income housing tax credits to fund 15 affordable housing developments throughout the state, which will build 1,049 new housing units at a total project cost of $34.6 million.
Two projects in Camp Verde will be among those: The Yavapai-Apache Homes VIII project at East Cherry Creek Road and Sycamore Vista Phase I at 365 N. Homestead Parkway.
“Every year we will get these credits to fuel development and having the flexibility to use all of next year’s batch in 2023 will jumpstart the building of more affordable housing communities in a shorter time frame,” ADOH Director Joan Serviss said in a press release.
Yavapai-Apache Homes
The project will be constructed in the Tunlii housing area east of the Conoco station of State Route 260 in Camp Verde, beginning along East Cherry Creek Road, at a cost of $21.8 million. Planning documents show that the second phase of construction will also require a new connecting east-west road.
“There’s a shortage of housing,” Yavapai-Apache Nation Housing Director Sharie Benson said. “Currently, on the waiting list, we have 120 tribal members and that means tribal families. Those families have to live somewhere. It’s difficult to find anything off of the reservation. A lot of people live with their family, they live with their parents, you’ll have three or four generations in a home.”
The tribe will receive $2.5 million per year from ADOH for the next 10 years toward the project; Benson explained they are seeking an investor who will purchase the credits from the tribe to build the project.
Residents eligible for the housing must have an income between 40% to 80% of the median Yavapai County income. Typically these projects cut people off who make above 60%, but Benson said the tribe chose to expand eligibility for nine of the units to individuals making 80% to serve more people.
This is the tribe’s eighth major housing project since 2004, and 234 units have been constructed since then. This project will include 34 buildings with 40 units that should house an estimated 160 tribal members.
“We have 28 single-family homes, 14 three-bedroom, 14 four-bedroom,” Benson said. “Then, because we have a demand for two-bedroom units, we have six duplex units that each have two bedroom units. One of the units will house a Yavapai- Apache police officer. We have [had] some police officers who come up from Phoenix and so this will be a way for them to be closer to the community here.”
“We have a handful of officers that just got out of the academy and are not able to afford anything … [The] housing crisis is affecting our patrol officers,” Yavapai- Apache Police Chief Nathan Huibregtse claimed.
The Yavapai-Apache Nation Tribal Housing acts as its own general contractor on its construction projects, which allows more control over the project as well as significant cost savings.
“The overhead or the profit that [would] go to the developer goes to build a community center, gymnasium, and a couple of parks,” Luke Sefton, president of Sefton Engineering Consultants, which is the civil engineer for this project, explained. “It gets reinvested into the community instead of the profit.” The Cherry Creek Road project, for instance, will include a new teen center.
“[The Yavapai-Apache] also put extra money in the insulation so it’s very efficient … They also put solar panels there. So by the time they’re done, [tribal residents are] probably dealing with a $20-a-month utility bill since water and sewer is paid.”
Ground breaking is expected at the end of the year with the first tenants moving in beginning in June 2024 and full completion slated for June 2025. Benson has applied for a federal Housing and Urban Development grant for another 10 homes in Tunlii, five in Clarkdale and one in the Middle Verde area and anticipates a decision on the application by next month.
Sycamore Vista Phase I
Sycamore Vista Phase I, located at 365 N. Homestead Parkway in Camp Verde, is being developed by Atlantic Development and Investments, Inc. at a total cost of $33.7 million. The state of Arizona has awarded $2 million in low-income housing credits and $1 million in state tax credits to the Sycamore project. The tax credits will be sold to a private equity investor.
“This is the first step in a partnership with [Camp Verde] to deliver 338 housing units as part of an economic development program,” the town of Camp Verde said in a press release. “The larger project will include additional affordable housing and [market] rate housing constructed through the federal opportunity zone program.”
An Arizona State University Morrison Institute for Public Policy September 2022 report on housing in Yavapai County singled out Camp Verde and Clarkdale as needing to update their zoning ordinances to increase maximum densities in order to encourage the development of multifamily housing and to attract land developers that can access government funding.
“We started working with the Town of Camp Verde on this project in 2021,” Atlantic Development and Investments Executive Vice President Jessica Raymond said. “As part of the pre-development work, we worked with the town to rezone the site to R2 to increase density to make the deal financially feasible.”
The land the project is on is within Camp Verde’s Opportunity Zone, which “is an economically distressed community where new investments, under certain conditions, may be eligible for preferential tax treatment,” as defined by the Internal Revenue Service. One of the financial hurdles the project faced was incorporating Opportunity Zone funds into a LIHTC development.
“We were determined to braid these programs,” Raymond said. “We found inspiration in the ‘side-by side hybrid’ LIHTC development model, whereby developments propose separate but simultaneous, financing plans. Sycamore Vista is innovating a unique 9% LIHTC/Opportunity Zone Development. Area 1 of the 28-acre parcel is comprised of a two-phase LIHTC development totaling 160 units [80 units in each phase] … Sycamore Vista Phase I will utilize a combination of 9% LIHTC, state housing tax credits, ADOH gap funds, gap funds from Camp Verde, and gap financing provided by the developer’s affiliated lending company. While phases 1 and 2 of Area 1 are being [developed], Area 2 will be developed as a separate but complementary built-to-rent product as a qualifying opportunity zone business.”
Phase I will consist of eight two-story residential buildings with 80 units divided between 53 low-income units and 27 market rate units.
“All of the project’s units will be two-story townhome units and contain two or more bedrooms, and all units will contain two bathrooms,” Raymond said. “The project will address market demand for affordable rental housing for households with children in the area.”
Other amenities for households with children are in the plans such as a pool, playground and dog park. Phase II will add 80 units. Eventually, 338 total units will be built in the development.
“In recent years, the rental market has become not just one option, but the only option, for many families in Arizona and throughout the country,” Raymond said in a press release. “This housing is essential for Camp Verde, and we’re excited to get to work.”
In other ADOH news, Gov. Katie Hobbs announced on Wednesday, June 7, that the state has awarded $20 million in grants to local governments to provide shelter and services to homeless people; of that amount, Coconino County received $133,000.
“The ADOH funding will allow Coconino County to provide safe shelter through hotel vouchers and vital wraparound services to unsheltered persons that are impacted by the closure of sober living homes and residential facilities, the expiration of the Public Health Act and individuals exiting incarceration and unable to find shelter,” Coconino County Health and Human Services Director Kim Musselman said in a press release.
