Tucson needs more housing. There are upward of 2,000 people living on the streets and in emergency shelters. At the same time, the city is expected to see nearly 50,000 new residents over the next decade, and will need to produce more than 62,000 housing units to meet housing needs.
Amid those complicated needs, the department of Housing and Community Development is at the forefront of creating a housing safety net for Tucsonans — doing everything from dispersing federal dollars for public housing to buying properties to eventually increase the stock of affordable housing.
For nearly a year and a half, Ann Chanecka has been the director of that department with a wide-reaching goal of finding more housing for residents most likely to fall through the cracks of the housing system…