West Phoenix Corridor to be Transformed with Shelter, Affordable Housing, Workforce Training

Article originally posted on AZ Central on April 28, 2023

Phoenix is spending almost $30 million buying up property in west Phoenix to lift residents out of poverty and to give a much needed facelift to the 27th Avenue corridor.

Two former motels and a vacant K-Mart building at 27th and Northern avenues just west of Interstate 17 will be become a shelter for seniors experiencing homelessness, an affordable housing complex and a workforce training campus. City officials hope all three buildings will be up and running within the next two years.

The city is also looking to add affordable housing units at the Helen Drake Senior Center down the street, and it’s implementing community safety plans along 27th Avenue. The separate efforts are all part of a broader goal: revitalize the area, improve residents’ quality and life and create opportunities for upward economic mobility.

The hope is that someone experiencing homelessness might seek shelter at the former Phoenix Inn, then walk over to the former K-Mart for help finding a job, and lastly, rent an affordable apartment — all within walking distance.

“Individuals can walk across the parking lot, get re-skilled and retrained, find a good job and move on to the next level of their life,” said Phoenix’s Economic Development Director Chris Mackay.

Rachel Milne, director of Phoenix’s Office of Homeless Solutions, said, “I think the community is going to be incredibly happy to have this sort of ecosystem there. Three really great projects, each very different … but all sort of working in concert with one another and working to revitalize that area a little bit.”

The intersection could serve as an opportunity for the city to revitalize an area eyesore that has caused community concern and spur investment in a community that has long needed it.

For Salma Abdalla, a 32-year-old epidemiologist, it’s a welcome prospect. Her family of six lives just west of the K-Mart in a 4-bedroom, pale salmon pink-colored brick house.

Safety and drug use have been top concerns for Abdalla’s family. One time, a woman who appeared to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs pounded on their front door late at night and, after Abdalla’s bother tried to get her to leave, she splashed her drink on him and ran off. Another time their car windows were smashed, and belongings were stolen. They don’t go out at night anymore.

“It’s so unsafe for our kids,” Abdalla said. The new shelter, apartments and workforce campus would only serve to improve the area, she said.

Abdallah said the family still loves the area. It’s quiet and charming. They can walk to their favorite middle eastern grocery market.

Mackay echoed Abdalla’s sentiment, saying she disagrees with those who’ve told her repeatedly west Phoenix “needs to be fixed.”

The area “doesn’t need fixing … it’s a great community. It just needs investment,” Mackay stressed. “That’s what we’re leveraging with this.”

The city approved purchasing the first motel, Phoenix Inn, for a senior shelter in 2021, and it long planned to purchase and repurpose the vacant K-Mart. The recent purchase of the Super 8 Motel, between the K-Mart and Phoenix Inn, came by surprise, however.

“When it came for sale, the city jumped at the chance,” Milne said.

Mackay added, “It would have broken my heart if we hadn’t been able to get a hold of that hotel. I feel that strongly in the fact that these are … projects that deserve to be together.”

The City Council unanimously approved to purchase Super 8 for $9 million and renovate it for another $2.5 million to become an affordable housing complex at a meeting April 5. The city purchased the K-Mart in February for about $12 million, Mackay said, and City Council OK’d $4 million for the senior shelter in 2021. The shelter, called The Haven, also got $7.5 million from the state housing department. The funding comes mostly from COVID-19 relief funds, plus some grants.

While the shelter focuses on those 55 and older, the affordable apartment complex and workforce training campus, dubbed Innovation 27 by the city, will serve a broader audience..

Plans for K-Mart pivot from food focus to workforce training

Innovation 27 should be especially helpful for someone fresh out of high school looking for a paid job, someone who wants to attain a GED and then a job, or someone who recently lost employment and is looking to pivot, said Mackay.

The programs will be mostly 8- and 12-week sessions administered by Arizona State University, the Maricopa County Community College District and Western Maricopa Education Center, or West-MEC.

Training will focus on emerging industries in Arizona that need more employees, Mackay said, such as “semiconductor, public safety, bioscience, information technology, food innovation, and healthcare fields.”

That means program attendees stand a strong change of finding jobs afterward, even if it’s not guaranteed, Mackay said.

City plans for the K-Mart initially focused on a food innovation center where non-traditional food companies could be housed, but officials pivoted after hearing from big employers and college institutions about the growing need for trained employees at the ready.

For Mackay, a workforce training campus made perfect sense.

“It seems to me that we have this young workforce that’s here in this portion of the Valley that doesn’t always have easy access to educational services … Those quick-hit trainings to get people a really good quality job,” she said.

The way she sees it, a 4-year degree isn’t the right path for a lot of young people today. Family or financial circumstances often place young adults into positions where they need good-paying jobs quicker, Mackay said.

Food innovation plans still in the works

The food innovation plan isn’t entirely abandoned. The city is leasing a smaller 12,000-square-foot building called Crystal Palace, between K-Mart and Super 8, that will hopefully become a food center.

The city could buy the building in the future, per its lease agreement. For now, the city plans to solicit proposals from the private sector to come in and make something of the space later this year, said Athena Sanchez, Phoenix’s Community and Economic Development communications manager.

Super 8 conversion into affordable apartments

The affordable apartment complex — the first to be launched out of the city’s Office of Homeless Solutions — is intended to provide stable, permanent housing for people exiting homelessness, Milne said.

The city is still in the nascent stages of planning the apartment complex. The motel has 125 units, but there may be more or fewer apartment units. It will depend on what the architect says, Milne told The Republic, and the architect has not yet been hired.

Residents who make less than 30% of the area median income and who are 55 and older will be prioritized, Milne said. That’s capped at about $19,000 for one person or $21,000 for two people.

A third-party property manager will also help the city develop selection criteria to prioritize those exiting homelessness. The complex will take tenant-based vouchers, Milne added, which allow residents to rent a unit for a certain percentage of their income.

Phoenix currently owns and manages 42 affordable multifamily developments and 184 affordable scattered single-family homes, according to the city’s housing spokesperson Kristin Couturier.

The Haven, shelter for seniors

The shelter taking over Phoenix Inn will be run by Central Arizona Shelter Service, which also runs the shelter in downtown Phoenix. The I-17 shelter, called The Haven, will house up to 170 seniors experiencing homelessness.

The first 40 beds will open this summer with the remaining beds being phased in throughout 2023, Milne said.

Helen Drake Senior Center redevelopment

In December 2022, the city issued an RFP inviting developers to build affordable housing units for seniors at the existing Helen Drake Senior Center just south of Northern and 27th avenues. The city wants between 50 and 80 apartments reserved for people who make 80% or less than the area median income, which is about $50,00 a year for one person and about $57,000 for a couple.

The senior center is a place for people 55 and older to socialize, exercise, take free classes and play games.

Safety plans along 27th Avenue

The city in early April announced it hired a neighborhood preservation inspector and neighborhood specialist who will help city departments implement safety plans along 27th and 19th avenues.

The inspector will work with police and the city prosecutor to address properties with high crime and blight, said Spencer Self, Phoenix’s neighborhood services director. The specialist, he said, is focused on education and crime prevention, plus bringing together neighborhood members to plan new uses for public spaces — like a community garden.

The city has also recently hosted five clean-ups along 27th Avenue in partnership with Councilwoman Betty Guardado’s office and local organizations, Self said. Residents cleared litter and swept streets.

In the next few months, 23 alleys along 19th and 27th avenues will be gated to ensure safety, Self said — Phoenix launched a pilot gated alley program and eventually made it permanent after positive community feedback.

Mile said the Office of Homeless Solutions was designating one of its three new homeless liaisons to the 27th Avenue area to connect people experiencing homelessness with services.

Phoenix’s behavioral health engagement team, launched in December 2022, is working to help residents affected by opioids and substance abuse, Milne said.

Nick Valenzuela, special projects administrator for the community safety projects at the city, noted upgrades to improve safety along 27th Avenue:

Brighter streetlights in areas of high crimes.
More streetlights coming in high crime areas this fall.
A review of 27th Avenue’s environmental design, to explore ways to reduce prostitution.
Collaborating across city teams to ensure sensitive, victim-focused strategies to addressing prostitution.
More communication between city departments.
A study underway with ASU examining how and if Phoenix’s efforts are reducing homelessness.