Key Points:

  • Residents of historic Phoenix neighborhood seek exemption from new zoning law
  • Law requires cities to allow duplexes, triplexes, and townhomes in certain areas
  • Phoenix residents are divided on the law, with some supporting affordable housing

Neighborhood leaders in the Willo Neighborhood Association are pushing back against a 2024 law that would allow property owners to build higher density housing options in the Phoenix neighborhood, including duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes and townhomes. 

Brad Brauer, president of the association, told the Arizona Capitol Times the group is seeking to preserve Arizona’s history by obtaining an exemption from House Bill 2721. 

“We don’t want to prevent someone from having a place to live or a better first house to own, but I don’t think that taking away from a neighborhood is the way to go about that,” Brauer said. “I really wish that the city and our state would come up with a better idea than to come in here with a bulldozer.”

The law, known as the “Missing Middle” law, will require cities of 75,000 people or more to allow the development of duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes and townhomes on single-family residential lots within one mile of a city’s central business district. It also requires new developments of at least 10 contiguous acres to allow for at least 20% of the properties to be designated for higher density structures. The law will take effect on Jan. 1, 2026. 

House Majority Leader Michael Carbone, R-Buckeye, received bipartisan support for the measure in the 2024 session. It passed with a supermajority in both legislative chambers. 

The law is intended to open up home ownership opportunities for Arizonans. During the 2024 legislative session, Carbone said that too many homes are built by corporate developers in Arizona, and that his legislation was meant to bridge the gap for a “lost way of living” that was once more common in the United States.

“The legislation reinforces a homeowner’s right to use their property as they see fit which, for some, may include adding accommodations for multigenerational housing or to generate additional income,” Carbone said in a news release after Gov. Katie Hobbs signed his bill. “The enactment of this legislation is a significant step toward solving the state’s housing crisis, and I am proud of the bipartisan effort that made it possible.”

Brauer said several residents of the neighborhood, located in central Phoenix, are worried the implementation of the new law will put the neighborhood’s status as a historic district at risk.

In the 2025 legislative session, Rep. Aaron Marquez, D-Phoenix, ran House Bill 2719, which would exempt historic neighborhoods from the law. It did not receive a hearing in the House Government Committee and Brauer said Willo residents are hoping to find a Republican sponsor for the bill next session. 

Not all Willo residents are opposed to the new law. Sebastian Del Portillo, a resident of the neighborhood and deputy campaign director with Organized Power in Numbers, said he believes the neighborhood should have a greater variety of housing types available for working-class Arizonans, particularly given its proximity to downtown Phoenix. 

“There are already bungalows and apartments and different kinds of housing in Willo. They’re already part of the character of the community,” Del Portillo said. “I think (the law) will bring more people into the community.”

Del Portillo said the Willo community is slightly affluent because residents have worked with the city to invest in their community for decades. He believes more affordable housing options in the neighborhood would give people more opportunities for social mobility.

“People are forgetting that they’re in the middle of downtown Phoenix, which is extremely dense,” he said. “People in the neighborhood need to accept that they live in a main city in Arizona. They’re not out in Peoria and they’re not out in Goodyear. They’re here. So, accept that you live in Phoenix and embrace that you live in Phoenix because that’s what makes it so cool.”

Neighborhood residents like Brauer say they don’t believe the law will lead to affordable housing being built in the neighborhood. The law has no provisions requiring affordable homes to be built, and homes in the neighborhood typically range from $300,000 to $800,000, according to the Historic Phoenix Group of Homesmart. 

“Why would they want to come into a neighborhood, buy an expensive property, demo it for probably $400,000 to $500,000, and after you get past all the environmental stuff as well, then build a fourplex on top of it. I’m not sure who that benefits,” Brauer said. “It would just be more expensive and smaller housing.”

The city of Phoenix is currently drafting a middle housing text amendment and overlay district since the missing middle law requires municipalities to update zoning ordinances by Nov. 5. City staff noted in an Aug. 26 community presentation that the city does not have the ability to exempt areas for historic preservation.

Christopher DePerro, a team leader for text amendments and special projects in Phoenix’s Planning and Development Department, said during the presentation that the law doesn’t require the city to allow two-story structures everywhere on a single-family zoned lot.

“We’re not treating either middle housing or single-family housing any differently from each other. It’s exactly the same,” DePerro said.

The City Council has scheduled a hearing on Nov. 5 to take action on the text amendment, and the Willo association is encouraging its residents to attend both that meeting and the city’s Oct. 6 Planning Commission’s meeting on the text amendment to voice their opinions on the issue.