An Arizona law will soon allow what is called “middle housing” — duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes and townhomes built on single-family lots in cities with 75,000 or more people.
The goal of House Bill 2721, which was signed into law by Gov. Katie Hobbs in 2024, is to increase density and improve affordability within a one mile radius of a city’s downtown district. The law is set to go into effect in January.
But residents in several historic Phoenix neighborhoods are pushing back.
Inside Memorial Hall at Steele Indian School Park, neighbors take their seats for a second community meeting hosted by Phoenix officials. The crowd is calm, conversational and noticeably thinner than Brad Brauer expected…