A new affordable housing development is slated to go up right off of Roosevelt Row in Phoenix. But the Goldwater Institute, Arizona’s libertarian-minded policy organization, is suing to prevent it from happening.
Last week, the Goldwater Institute filed a complaint against the city of Phoenix in Maricopa County Superior Court. The suit alleges that Phoenix violated the gift clause in the Arizona Constitution by selling the property — currently an empty lot just north of Tropic Thunder at 1016 N. 2nd Street — to Pennrose LLC at a severe discount.
Phoenix agreed to sell the lot for approximately $1.5 million, about one-third of the 2023 appraised fair market value of $4.8 million. Goldwater argues that the sale violates the state constitution’s gift clause, which prohibits governments from giving away anything of value — land, credit, money and assets — to a private entity. It also argues that the sale violates a state law prohibiting housing from being built for a specific class of people, including income…