Blending old and new is creating controversy in the Southwest as elected officials in Phoenix unanimously approved a contentious state-mandated plan allowing the construction of multiunit housing in the city’s historic neighborhood.
The vote this week to move forward with plans follows a heated debate highlighting a generational divide.
The newly adopted ordinance is aligned with a state law passed in May 2024 that allows the owners of single-family homes to build so-called middle housing, including duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, and townhomes, on their lots located within 1 mile of downtown Phoenix.
Phoenix, and other large cities across Arizona with at least 75,000 inhabitants, had until the end of November to approve zoning ordinances reflecting the provisions of the middle housing law, which goes into effect Jan. 1, 2026, reported Arizona Capital Times.
Had Phoenix failed to comply, it would have lost $700 million in state funding, which is more than a third of the city’s annual budget, and surrendered control over deciding where the multiunit homes are built and how they are designed.
“It’s not a risk I’m willing to take with 1.7 million residents who depend on city services, especially when some neighbors have already lost federal services and benefits due to the federal government shutdown,” said Phoenix Vice Mayor Ann O’Brien.
Leading up to the vote, critics argued the zoning rules could forever alter the character of historic neighborhoods like Willo, Encanto Palmcroft, and Los Olivos.
Bradley Brauer, president of the Willo Neighborhood Association, has been one of the most vocal critics of the state law. He says he and others who have come out against the plan are “very pro-development” and have been boosters for multifamily housing in Phoenix for the last 25 years.
“But we want it to be responsible,” he tells Realtor.com®. “What doesn’t need to happen is to tear down an historic home to create space for a fourplex next door that wasn’t there before.”
While Phoenix’s historic districts are not exempt from high-density construction under the new law, the city does have historic preservation procedures in place, including a one-year moratorium on demolition and design review. However, Brauer says he doubts these measures will deter developers, who may view the potential fines as a minor risk.
Brauer argues that what he would like to see is condominiums and high-rises built on the many vacant lots dotting Phoenix, but not in the middle of historic districts like Willo boasting a rich heritage, where they could potentially replace homes that have been there since the 1920s.
“Every single house in this neighborhood is an historic home, and they were protected by the city for ages and ages and ages,” says Brauer. “And now the state’s saying, ‘Well, we’d rather have a developer come in and raze that.'”
Supporters of the measure, however, note that Phoenix has a housing shortage exacerbated by persistent affordability challenges, making it necessary to boost construction of multiunit homes.
Phoenix City Councilwoman Anna Hernandez, a Democrat who co-sponsored the law known as HB2721 during her tenure as a state senator, says that bringing middle housing to areas near the city’s business center will allow more people to live near their places of work.
“It’s a great move as the city of Phoenix to move forward and adopt a change that is going to create a path for more families to find attainable homes,” Hernandez tells Realtor.com.
During an animated City Council meeting earlier this month, Phoenix residents spoke for and against the zoning plan. Longtime residents of historic districts decried the potential loss of century-old homes to development, while younger community members warned that without more housing units they risk being priced out of the housing market.
To comfortably afford a median priced single-family home in Arizona, the typical household needs to earn roughly $128,000 per year, according to an August report from Realtor.com.
But the median household income in the Copper State is just below $75,000, based on 2022 U.S. Census data, which is 70% below the minimum recommended income.
Hernandez says the debate over the zoning plan reflects a generational divide between homeowners who have been living in Phoenix’s historic enclaves for decades and people in their 20s and 30s who have been sidelined.
“Young people are boxed out of finding housing they want to live in and that they can afford,” she says. “And so I think it’s a failure on the part of the older generation to not be good neighbors and find a way how can we help make young people feel like they belong in our communities.”
Hernandez adds that failing to add middle housing would be akin to pulling the “ladder from the younger folks” trying to improve their circumstances. The new plan that will be going into effect next year will create a path for homes to become “attainable” for working-class families, Hernandez says.
Brauer, however, disagrees, saying that the zoning ordinance is based on a false premise that the triplexes and fourplexes that will be going up in Phoenix’s prestigious sectors will be budget-friendly to first-time buyers.
“What I think people misunderstand is that suddenly they’re going to be able to live in this nice neighborhood for something that’s affordable. … I’m sorry, you’re going to be paying top dollar for it, if you can,” he says.
For Brauer, the math is straightforward: If a developer purchases a home in Willo for $800,000, spends an additional $400,000 to demolish it and erect a four-unit property on the land, it will be expecting a substantial return on its investment, meaning that the new build will likely come with a hefty price tag.
“A lot of the younger kids out there have this feeling that by tearing down one of these houses, they’re going to have a fourplex and they can own this,” he says. “No, you can’t own it.”