Big Government and Lobbyists Are Crushing the Dream of Home Ownership

My parents were in their 20s when they purchased my childhood home. It was 1,456 square feet. I lived there for the first 18 years of my life. I, too, bought my first home in my mid-20s.

Yet for too many today, such a purchase at a relatively young age is increasingly out of reach. Across most major American cities, home prices are by far outpacing wages. If states experiencing economic growth want to keep up with demand, they will need to do something about affordable housing.

My adopted state of Arizona should be among the most proactive. But a sinister alliance of big government and lobbyists is crushing the dream of home ownership. If we don't address the problem, the American dream for the next generation of buying a home will be crushed.

People are moving to my home state of Arizona because of our vibrant pro-business and pro-growth environment, moderate cost of living, and our state's low flat-tax structure. The increased influx of new residents has strained Arizona's existing housing supply, causing prices to soar to all-time highs. Meanwhile, ever more burdensome municipal regulations and public opposition prevents the development of low-density housing. The state is short around 270,000 housing units. The legislature has tried to do something about this. Unfortunately, we have failed so far. If we continue to flounder, job growth will suffer.

Arizona’s population has grown 6 percent since 2020. According to a recent U-Haul Growth Index, Arizona is in the top ten in-bound states for movers. If you were fortunate enough to have lived in Arizona prior to 2020, the average household income necessary to afford an average home was around $71,000. Today, you need an average household income of $122,000 to afford that same home, according to a recent survey by Bankrate.

The average cost of a home is approaching $500,000 across the Phoenix metropolitan area, which is exacerbated by stubbornly high mortgage rates. Per ZipRecruiter's monthly statistics, the average salary in Arizona is approximately $68,329 per year and the average income for households is $104,138 -- 6 percent lower than the U.S. average. The median household in Arizona will need to redirect about 25 percent of its income on housing costs, including rent.

Instead of trying to make housing more affordable, however, last month, the Phoenix city council voted unanimously to increase development impact fees by double-digits to the tune of $35,000. These fees will be charged to developers on the cost to build a new house to pay for infrastructure near the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and Deer Valley. Both areas are part of my legislative district. This rate hike will further drive up costs for each homeowner by about 8 percent.

While the state legislature can't control externalities like the city's increase in impact fees, the ongoing worldwide tariff war, interest rates, or even inflation, legislators can look for ways to reduce regulations on Arizonans looking to buy their first home.

This legislative session, I've sponsored Senate Bill 1229 to address our state's housing shortage. The Arizona Starter Homes Act takes a multi-pronged approach. It would help give first-time homebuyers like single mom Charise Dickerson a tangible option by reintroducing starter homes: small homes on small lots. City planners across the state haven't really approved of homes on smaller lots since the 1990s.

This bill would be a clear directive to address what is missing in today's entry to housing options. And it would deregulate local zoning jurisdictions to reduce unnecessary red tape and overburdensome decision-making coming from our central municipal planning departments. In addition, the bill would permit municipalities to set minimum lot sizes to allow for these types of homes in new developments of five acres or more on lots zoned as single-family homes. The legislation would be consistent with current public health and safety regulations, including building and fire codes.

Sadly, highly compensated taxpayer-funded lobbyists who represent the city's central planners over its residents consistently press legislators to keep the status quo. Equally as concerning, there are many starter homes located across the greater Phoenix metropolitan, including in my own legislative district, that the city planners no longer approve. In the current system, unelected bureaucrats enforce unnecessary design standards -- like what type of roof a home must have or whether the home has a garage versus a carport -- to get approval from the city planning commission while requesting government subsidies and other taxpayer giveaways. Central planners’ insistence on enshrining certain features, such as floor plans and interior and exterior design of their home, in municipal regulations reduces the housing stock and makes things harder for the next generation of first-time homeowners.

To the chagrin of my opposition, which supports price controls and other government interventions, this bill doesn't dole out government incentives like low-income housing tax credits or other taxpayer funded subsidies to try to spur the development of starter homes. City lobbyists prefer window-dressing the problem by throwing money at the housing crisis. But more money will not address the root of the central planning problem.

I am a lifelong free market conservative who believes in free enterprise. And I agree with President Trump, who supports removing government regulatory impediments like permitting and zoning to make housing affordable again. In 2019, the first time Trump was at the helm, he issued an executive order to help reduce the cost of new homes, citing the fact that "regulations are creating excessive costs holding back the development of needed affordable housing and explaining how 25 percent of the cost of a new home is the direct result of federal, state, and local regulations.

In an interview with Bloomberg last July, Trump said zoning was a "killer" (and not in a good way) and supported reducing regulations and streamlining the permitting process to lower housing costs. He added that excessive regulations significantly inflated overall building costs. On Day One of his current administration, Trump issued an executive order aimed to slash local and state regulations that have prevented an increase in housing supply. As a developer, Trump knows how difficult the city of Phoenix's planning process can be. One of his hotel condo developments was the victim of NIMBYism and our city's central planner in the early 2000s.

Many opponents of this legislation, however, support price controls and California-style government subsidies that have failed to achieve positive outcomes over the past several decades.

Instead, we should focus on eliminating unnecessary barriers to entry. A first-time homebuyer isn't worried about what type of roof or paint color they need to get approved to build their dream home. But unelected bureaucrats across our state's municipalities continue to make or break the design of a new home. Republicans have long supported the engines of production and creativity, as well as individual property rights. Unfortunately, many Republican legislators are falling for NIMBYism's anti-development talking points.

This issue is personal for me. My 23-year-old son and his wife are ideal candidates for the kind of starter home I once lived in and once bought, as the current Phoenix housing market is severely overvalued. I’d like to ensure that my children have the same opportunity I had. And I know I’m not alone. Let's get the middleman -- the city's unelected municipal zoning and planning divisions -- out of the way. Let’s allow first-time homebuyers to have a chance at their dream of home ownership. Let’s give them a chance to build equity by relegalizing small homes on small lots to build the next generation of homeownership.

If we don’t, then people like my children and yours will have to look elsewhere for a place to start their lives. Find me one parent who wants to get on a plane to visit their grandkids.