Arizona
Report details ongoing affordability challenges Arizona renters face
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Housing affordability has been a growing challenge across the Valley. Despite reports showing rent prices have cooled off, Arizona remains one of the toughest states for renters.
When it comes to finding a place to live in the Valley, renting can be as competitive and expensive as buying. A new report found renters must work 76 hours a week, making the minimum wage, to pay for a one-bedroom apartment in Arizona.
Skyrocketing rent is a matter of inventory and demand.
“Between 2021 and 2023, rents went up 32%,” said Rick Merritt, president and co-founder of Elliott D. Pollack & company, a real estate and economic firm. “The state of Arizona believes it has a shortage of about 200,000 housing units.”
A non-profit housing report found that a one-bedroom in Arizona costs, on average, $1,417 a month, while a two-bedroom costs about $1,700.
“Wages are increasing and they have increased, but they haven’t kept up with the rate of inflation,” Merritt said.
He said rents shot up after the pandemic, and although rent prices are stabilizing, many tenants across the state are still struggling.
“If you’re a single person and you’re working minimum wage jobs, you’re going to have difficulty finding a place to rent,” said Merritt. “A lot of people are doubling up with roommates to share the rent; maybe if you’re in your 20s, you’re going back to live with your mother and father.”
Last year, the Arizona Auditor General listed the average teacher salary as $58,000. Based on the rule that renters shouldn’t spend more than 30% of their monthly income on rent, teachers are barely making enough for a one-bedroom.
“It is very common for most educators to have second and third jobs,” said Marisol Garcia, President of the Arizona Education Association. “These things are being quickly taken away from this generation of educators, whether or not they can buy a home, or have children or go on vacations.”
Garcia says it forces teachers to make difficult decisions.
“Hearing that educators can’t afford rent or move into properties is something we have heard up and down the state from districts where teachers have to make decisions to stay in Arizona because of the living situation,” she said.
She worries about the impact this has on the industry.
“What happens when we can’t pay teachers what they need to get paid, as well as the housing crisis impacting them? We’re going to continue to see the retention issue hit the state,” said Garcia.
Police departments are also listed in the report and have seen retention issues.
Earlier this year, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes filed a price-fixing lawsuit accusing a property management software company and nine of the state’s largest landlords of conspiring to raise rent costs. She blames them for the 30% increase in rent across Phoenix and Tucson over the past two years.
Tuesday, President Biden called on corporate landlords to cap rent increases at 5% and announced the administration’s plan to take action to make more public land available for housing by:
- Calling on Congress to pass legislation giving corporate landlords a choice to either cap rent increases on existing units at 5% or risk losing current valuable federal tax breaks
- Repurposing public land sustainably to enable as many as 15,000 additional affordable housing units to be built in Nevada
- Rehabilitating distressed housing, building more affordable housing, and revitalizing neighborhoods, including in Las Vegas, Nevada
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PAGE, AZ (AZFamily) — A person accused of making terroristic threats toward a northern Arizona medical facility was arrested Friday morning.
Just after 10:30 p.m., police received a report of a person calling the facility and threatening to kill staff and Native Americans, according to the Page Police Department.
Authorities said staff placed the facility on lockdown until officers identified the suspect and arrested them outside their home.
The suspect was booked on charges of disorderly conduct, threatening and intimidating, and making terroristic threats. Police have not publicly identified the person.
“The Page Police Department is grateful for and supports the medical staff’s decision to put the medical facility into lockdown until the suspect was arrested and the situation was rendered safe,” the department said in a Facebook post.
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In these four-round projections, the Arizona Cardinals don’t get a tackle until the fourth round.
We are just days away from the 2026 NFL draft, and that means some final mock drafts. What direction will the draft take the Arizona Cardinals?
Draft Wire’s Curt Popejoy put together a four-round mock draft for the Cardinals. They go defense early but rebuild the offense for 2026 and moving forward, including landing their potential franchise quarterback.
Cardinals 4-round mock draft
Here are the players in the first four rounds Popejoy projects for Arizona.
- Round 1: Ohio State EDGE/LB Arvell Reese
- Round 2: Alabama QB Ty Simpson
- Round 3: Clemson WR Antonio Williams
- Round 4: Florida OT Austin Barber
What we think of the picks
The Cardinals want to trade out of the third pick and draft a tackle, so not getting a tackle until Round 4 seems unlikely, although they did meet with Barber. They do have options at right tackle for 2026 already on the roster.
Reese would be a great pick if they don’t trade back, as they badly need pass-rushing help off the edge.
Drafting Simpson seems inevitable at this point, so it has to be in a mock draft, although the feeling is they will need to go up into Round 1 again to get him.
Williams has speed and is almost six feet tall, but he does have short arms.
Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.
Due to significant injuries to the CB position last year which includes a shoulder surgery for Terrion Arnold, the Lions CB position scored a 6/10 need on my Lions Defensive Draft Need Rankings. Thus, an early-round selection of a young, healthy prospect like Keith Abney would not come as a surprise. He enters the draft with very low medical concern level.
Here is the excerpt from my medical report on Keith Abney:
(Ages in parentheses are at start of 2026 season and are factored into the concern level. Injury info and ages based on available public information are unverified and subject to update. Games played data courtesy of sports-reference.com.)
Keith Abney, CB (21) – Arizona State
Projected round 2-3. #43 on Jeff Risdon board Feb 19.
Concern level 0/10
There is an isolated report of a hand injury but no corroborating information. Even if the hand injury is true, that’s of minimal to no long-term concern.
His availability in his final two seasons has been perfect. Overall, Abney appears to be medically clean and is at an excellent age.
He finished college with 6 INT and 21 PBU.
For more Lions coverage, follow us on X, @TheLionsWire, and give our Facebook page a like. Follow Jimmy on X, @JimmyLiaoMD
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