Tucson to Receive Affordable Housing Planning Data Assistance

Published on September 26, 2023

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The City of Tucson, along with 10 other U.S. cities, has been selected to receive a no-cost analytical tool and other resources to better understand the local real estate market. This tool will assist Housing and Community Development (HCD) in preserving and building affordable housing.

Accelerator for America, a non-profit economic development group, and Tolemi, a Boston-based real estate data firm, will partner with the City of Tucson in this pilot project.

“We welcome the technical assistance from Accelerator for America and Tolemi in our continuing efforts to better understand the changing dynamics in the private housing industry so that HCD and the City of Tucson can continue ongoing work to provide affordable housing choices for Tucson residents,” said HCD Interim Director Ann Chanecka.

Access to the resources from Tolemi and Accelerator for America will support the City of Tucson’s Housing Affordability Strategy for Tucson (HAST) plan by integrating various datasets into one tool to help track and maintain existing public housing assets that the City of Tucson owns and operates. It will also help HCD’s development team make “more informed, real-time decisions on city-owned properties as well as private properties for acquisition to target new public housing or affordable housing development, making sure that development is occurring in the communities most in need,” said HCD’s application to the program.

Cities will leverage these resources to preserve and build affordable housing, keep families in their homes, combat predatory private sector investments, and ensure publicly owned real estate is utilized for the highest possible community benefit. “Today, cities have multiple data sets and systems related to real estate but often lack the tools and capacity to aggregate and visualize information for strategic local action and investment,” said the announcement made by Tolemi and Accelerator for America last week.

Under the HAST plan, adopted by the Mayor and Council in December 2021, it outlines 10 steps to increase Tucson’s affordable housing stock in addition to preserving and enhancing existing housing, and transform public housing, among other priorities.

The other cities involved in the project include Kansas City, Albuquerque, Austin, Philadelphia, San Diego, and Tampa.