City of Tucson Housing & Community Development Releases Annual Report for 2024

The City of Tucson Housing & Community Development department (HCD) has released its annual report, highlighting the department’s work to build and operate housing, provide housing assistance, solve homelessness, and invest in community in 2024. Since 2017, the Tucson region has seen dramatic increases in home sales prices and rents, exacerbating the local need for affordable housing and solutions to support the city’s most vulnerable individuals and families. 

The report recaps HCD’s efforts, with significant support from the U.S. Department of  Housing and Urban Development (HUD), to preserve existing affordable housing and support new housing development. Investments have been made in Tucson House redevelopment and installation of solar panels on city-owned affordable housing units. New development including the work of El Pueblo Housing Development (EPHD), the City of Tucson’s nonprofit development arm, and financing and subsidy support for private affordable housing development, are also highlighted. 

In 2024, Milagro on Oracle, the new 63-unit senior housing complex and the City of Tucson’s first Low-Income Housing Tax Credit project in a decade, was nearly completed (and is now open), and pre-development began for additional EPHD projects including Sugar Hill on Stone at the location of the former Bum Steer restaurant, Amazon Flats at the former Amazon Motel, and on South 10 Avenue south of 22nd Street. In total, EPHD has 1,100 units of housing in the pipeline plus the 63 recently completed at Milagro on Oracle.  

HCD’s housing assistance services include providing forgivable down payment assistance loans to low-moderate income homebuyers, home repair assistance, lead hazard reduction, and administering 5,500 HUD Housing Choice Vouchers across Pima County. In 2024, there were 105 participants in HCD’s Family Self-Sufficiency program, which provides families receiving housing assistance with a case manager to develop a five-year action plan supporting their goals and breaking the cycle of poverty. The report spotlights a few FSS program success stories where families gained financial independence and saved enough to purchase a home in one case, and a car to support attending college and getting to work in another. Most of HCD’s housing assistance services were HUD funded in 2024. 

In December 2024, the City of Tucson was awarded an $11.5 million Preservation and Reinvestment Initiatives for Community Enhancement (PRICE) grant from HUD to support energy efficiency and safety upgrades to manufactured homes in the region. The grant would also support the creation of shared governance and management of a mobile home park and providing eviction prevention and legal assistance to prevent displacement.  

In addressing homelessness, the Housing First Program provides street outreach, housing navigation, emergency shelter, and permanent support housing using a low-barrier model. In 2024, the City’s Multidisciplinary Outreach Team (MDOT) assembled and distributed 7,200 care packages to people experiencing homelessness. Wildcat Inn, one of the city’s transitional housing facilities, housed 152 adults and 57 children in 2024. Prior to opening Milagro on Oracle and Amazon Flats, the Housing First team operated low barrier shelters at these sites. Amazon Motel provided temporary housing to 140 people in 2024, and 86 of these individuals moved into permanent housing after their stay. 

HCD revamped its People, Communities, and Homes Investment Plan (P-CHIP), adopted in November 2024, to serve as HCD’s strategic plan for the coming five years, as well as to guide future P-CHIP grantmaking. The annual report highlights both the development of the new P-CHIP as well as grants made in the 2023-2024 P-CHIP funding cycle – which included $5.4 million awarded, and 28 non-profit organizations receiving P-CHIP funding. 

Community reinvestment in the city’s two Thrive Zones, Thrive in the ’05 and the 29th Street Thrive Zone, continued in 2024. Investments such as installation of banners and a new mural highlighting the culture and heritage of Sugar Hill, sculptures in Barrio Blue Moon and Bronx Park, and four neon Miracle Mile signs along the Miracle Mile historic corridor were completed in the Thrive in the 05, along with work on Tucson House and other efforts supported by the $50 million HUD Choice Neighborhoods Grant.  

In the 29th Street Thrive Zone, 8 community Action Activities, supported by $1.3 million allocated by Tucson’s Mayor and Council, were selected through a resident-driven process. Additionally, the 29th Street Thrive Zone was awarded a HUD Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grant, which will support the creation of a transformation plan for this area. In 2024, there were 80 community meetings and events supported by HCD staff in the 29th Street Thrive Zone.  

 The City of Tucson Housing and Community Development Department includes 180 employees. Ann Chanecka, HCD Department Director, noted her pride in HCD’s work over the past year, while also highlighting the community’s significant need for more emergency shelter and services, permanent supportive housing, and affordable housing units.

“What is clear is that we can’t slow down our efforts. But unfortunately, both HCD and Tucson are at a serious crossroads,” she said, citing uncertain future federal and state funding. “Tucsonans need to find reliable funding sources to support HCD to maintain the needed work and grow the programs that serve our collective goals. These challenges are bigger than city government and will continue to require partnership and collaboration – at all levels of government, with the private sector, non-profits, and community-based organizations, and more.” 

Read HCD's 2024 Annual Report