Verde Valley Community Development Organization announced on Nov. 24 that it has received a 13.84-acre parcel from Kelly and Mona Sands of ICON Builders for workforce housing development on State Route 260 at Doug’s Park Road.
“We’ve been talking about the need to have [a] diverse workforce here,” Executive Director Mary Chicoine said. “[But] The only way that’s going to happen is if we can provide homes. … It is troubling me, to me personally, that the median age in the Verde Valley is getting older. … In having these houses, we can get our workforce, families and things like that, and begin to change the tide of an aging community.”
The nonprofit estimates it could accommodate approximately 45 single-family homes on the land — parcel APN 403-23-151E — that the Sands’ have owned for the last 20 years that has been vacant, though Chicoine said a formal layout has not yet been completed and does not currently have a cost estimate but it is working with civil engineer and VVCDO member Luke Sefton on the site design.
“This extraordinary gift from the Sands represents more than generosity; it is a powerful testament to their belief in our vision and our ability to create lasting change,” VVCDO Board Chairman Mark Tufte wrote in a press release. “This investment will directly empower us to help our workforce secure affordable housing. Homeownership that not only leads to increased family wealth but also to higher educational attainment, better health outcomes, and reduced reliance on government assistance.”
VVCDO intends to start the application process with the Town of Camp Verde within the month, according to Chicoine, and the town has already signaled interest in the project on social media.
“The Town of Camp Verde congratulates VVCDO on this remarkable achievement and looks forward to collaborating on future development that brings meaningful, affordable housing options to our community,” the town posted on Wednesday, Dec. 10.
Chicoine stated that the development will require a zone change to double the housing density from about two to five homes an acre.
“That reduces the cost, and we want to get around 45 single-family homes in there,” Chicoine said. “So, that in itself will take a little extra time. Hopefully, we’ll be able to grow our understanding. I’m sure the chairman [William Tippett] of the Camp Verde P&Z committee will have to recuse himself, since he’s on our board, but we do have assets in Camp Verde that we’re working with.”
The parcel will be entered into VVCDO’s Verde Valley Community Land Trust and will help working-class families with homeownership.
“CLTs own land on behalf of the community for the purpose of creating a reserve of permanently affordable housing. CLTs can preserve existing housing or can develop new housing,” VVDO stated. “They can rent units or they can sell homes via ‘land-lease’ agreements. The ‘land lease’ purchase option is a unique agreement in which a first-time homeowner only needs to qualify for the price of the built structure of the home, not the land. … This results in a much lower down payment and lower mortgage bills. When the home is sold, the land trust can create a new land-lease agreement with a new purchaser, keeping the property affordable in perpetuity. This arrangement allows the owner to start building equity to the point that they no longer need housing assistance.”
Kelly Sands, whose company has built and renovated about 26,000 units of affordable housing in Western states, said the donation came together after meeting Chicoine at the Arizona Department of Housing’s annual event in August Tucson.
“We know there’s an affordability crisis, and so somebody needs to address that,” Sands said. “These feel like incremental moves because the projects are only so large, but I think over time, this is how you get things done. If we can produce … homes that will be affordable to people and allow them to build their net worth [that’s] got to be a good thing.”
“The next steps is working with my board, who has people like Luke Sefton and Mark Tufte, others, who are developers [and] putting our plan together,” Chicoine said. “We did not do any work on design or anything else until the gift closed, and it didn’t close until the day before Thanksgiving. So now we’re hitting the ground running.”
For more about VVCDO, contact Chicoine at administration@vvcdo.com.
