In July, the city of Sedona entered into a contract with the firm Elliott D. Pollack and Company to do a study on housing needs in the area. Sedona is paying $100,000 to the firm for the study of its own housing needs, but has offered other municipalities in the area a chance to be included in a wider study of the whole Verde Valley — if they can raise an additional $40,000 to pay for it.
At a council meeting on Nov. 19, Cottonwood became the first municipality in the Verde Valley to join Sedona in paying for the study, pledging up to $10,000 to pay for its portion of the $40,000. City Manager Ron Corbin had initially sought up to $20,000 for the project.
“If you talk to any employer in town, finding housing is a significant issue,” Corbin told the council at the Nov. 19 meeting. He pointed to Verde Valley Medical Center as one of the major employers in the area that has had trouble finding housing that its employees can afford. “One of the issues they have is nurses of course, and housing — finding a place for the nurses to live … So we clearly have a need for workers and one of our biggest stumbling blocks in the community is housing.”
“Instead of blaming short-term rentals or long-term rentals or not enough housing or the cost of housing, let’s actually do a real assessment of the situation that we currently have,” Corbin said. He pointed to how a significant solution for housing in Sedona is the cheaper and more available housing in Cottonwood and other areas in the Verde Valley, so Sedona would benefit from knowing more about housing needs in the whole area.
Under the expanded study, the study would go beyond Sedona to talk to employers and employees in other municipalities, as well as looking at land use and policy documents from other governments.
The Cottonwood City Council expressed interest in participating in the study but balked slightly at the costs proposed by Corbin.
“I’m not saying that I don’t support the study,” Vice Mayor Tosca Henry said. “I think that that is good. But right now as far as the full up to 20 [thousand], that’s a stretch for me with the value for Cottonwood as it’s been presented with the information in the packet. I could support something lower such as $5,000 or even something up to $7,500.”
“I think this is a really important project and we need to do it, and I think the data will not only help us determine how we want to grow going forward, but it could also help in other areas,” Councilwoman Jackie Nairn said. “Having worked with the homeless and now in low-income housing, I could see how the data from this could help in those other areas as well. But I’m also stuck on the 20. The number that feels okay to me would be 10 [thousand]. I think I would be on board with 10. Knowing that there are so many other partners out there that could contribute to the 40, I think if we did 10 they could come up with the rest.”
At a meeting on Dec. 4, the Camp Verde Town Council also pledged the same amount of funding for the study. City Manager Russ Martin argued that since it would not require staff time, spending up to $10,000 on the study would provide the town government with a high rate of return on their investment. The Town Council allocated reserve funds from its contingency budget to pay for its portion of the study.
The Clarkdale Town Council has also put potential funding of up to $4,000 for the study on its agenda for its meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 10, but its decision will come after press time.
Other groups in addition to the municipal governments, such as Yavapai College, NACOG and Yavapai County may be involved in the study and may pay for part of it as well. The Verde Valley Regional Economic Organization has already agreed to partner with Cottonwood.
