AUDIO: Rent increases in Tucson highlight gentrification in underprivileged neighborhoods

by Adnan Alam
  • Slug: Tucson Gentrification
  • Runtime: 2:54
  • Downloadable audio here. (Note: Some web browsers may not support media download)

BYLINE:  McKenzie Allen-Charmley/Cronkite News 

INCREASES IN RENT IN TUCSON NEIGHBORHOODS HAVE LEFT MANY RESIDENTS DISPLACED AND WITHOUT AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN THE COMMUNITIES THEY CALL HOME. CRONKITE NEWS MCKENZIE ALLEN-CHARMELY REPORTS ON WHAT’S BEING DONE TO ADDRESS THIS. 

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IN SOUTH TUCSON, ROXANNE VALENZUELA REMEMBERS THE DIVERSE AND UNITED COMMUNITY SHE WAS RAISED IN. 

<sot Roxanne Valenzuela/ Catholic Worker /runs 0:14 hits 0:11-0:25 > 

“We started noticing that the makeup of the neighborhood  started changing and it was becoming less affordable to find a house, rent a house, stay in the only community we knew to be our home”

VALENZUELA AND HER FAMILY HAVE LIVED IN THE AREA SINCE ‘89. BUT SHE SAYS TRYING TO FIND AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD HAS PROVED A CHALLENGE DUE TO GENTRIFICATION. 

<sot Roxanne Valenzuela/ Catholic Worker /runs 0:14 hits 0:34-0:48 > 

“We also started noticing that the city was not investing in our community in us but instead giving like developers incentives to build all these corporate businesses and ignoring us.”

DEVELOPERS IN TUCSON WHO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE GOVERNMENT PROPERTY LEASE EXCISE TAX, OR GPLET, ARE FREE FROM PAYING PROPERTY SALES TAXES FOR UP TO EIGHT YEARS IN HOPES OF REVITALIZING THE CITY. HOWEVER TO COMMUNITY MEMBERS, THE TAX INCENTIVES SPARK FEAR OF RESIDENTS BEING DISPLACED FORCEFULLY IN THE PROCESS. 

<sot Raul Ramirez/ Menlo Park Neighborhood AssociationVice President/runs 0:07 hits 1:07-1:14 >

“That sales tax if it was being collected it could be used for schools, it could be used for highways it could be used for a lot of different things.”

THAT’S RAUL RAMIREZ. HE’S PRESIDENT OF THE MENLO PARK NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION. HE SAYS VISUALIZING GENTRIFICATION IN TUCSON BARRIOS IS EASY. WELL MAINTAINED HOUSING, PAVEMENTS AND INCREASED MORTGAGE COST   CONTRAST BROKEN HOMES AND TRASHED ROADS THAT ARE NOW ONLY REMNANTS OF COMMUNITIES THAT ONCE STOOD STRONG. FRANCISCO ROBLES HAS LIVED IN SOUTH PARK FOR DECADES. 

<sot Francisco Robles/ Community Member /runs 0:13 hits 1:26-1:39 > {SPANISH w/ translation}

“Our grandparents were here, our parents and now we are here. And our kids. They are used to it. So if they take us out of here, where will we go?”

RECENT ZILLOW DATA SHOWS THAT THREE DIFFERENT ZIP CODES IN TUCSON HAVE HAD SOME OF THE FASTEST GROWING RENT PRICES IN ARIZONA. NEIGHBORHOODS ON THE EAST SIDE OF TUCSON HAVE HAD AN AVERAGE INCREASE OF 32% IN THE PAST FIVE YEARS. DAVID BACHMAN-WILLIAMS IS PRESIDENT OF THE ARMORY PARK NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION WHICH IS ONE OF THESE AREAS THAT’S SEEN A RUN UP IN PRICES.   

<sot David Bachman-Williams/ Armory Park Neighborhood Association President/runs 0:11 hits 1:57-2:08 >

“If you’re poor and live in this neighborhood you eventually give up and sell your house or quit renting because the rent becomes too expensive  and allows the whole neighborhood to become gentrified.”

WHEN IT COMES TO SOLUTIONS, ALL THE COMMUNITY MEMBERS LIKE ROXANNE VALENZUELA, WANT IS TO BE HEARD.

<sot Roxanne Valenzuela/ Catholic Worker /runs 0:17 hits 2:13-2:30> 

“Developers should start thinking outside the box and maybe looking at bottom up approach instead of what its always been it just trickles down from the top. We just get the crumbs.”

TUCSON CURRENTLY HAS 24 GOVERNMENT PROPERTY LEASE EXCISE TAX AGREEMENTS IN PLACE. THOSE AGREEMENTS ARE  ESTIMATED TO BRING OVER 155 MILLION IN REVENUE THAT WILL  CONTRIBUTE TO THE OVERALL ECONOMIC GROWTH OF TUCSON.

IN TUCSON, MCKENZIE ALLEN-CHARMLEY, CRONKITE NEWS.