Workers Priced Out Of Sedona. Steve Williamson welcomes Linda Martinez and City Council member Jessica Williamson to discuss a long-standing problem for Sedona – affordable housing. According to Williamson, affordable housing is defined by income based on a household spending no more than 30 percent of its income on rent. The problem is that the median cost of housing in Sedona is $850,000 while the median income for the area ranges from $41,400 to $48,150. So, only the very wealthy can afford a home in Sedona.
An Arizona law that has taken away local control of short-term rentals has further compounded the problem by turning apartments into condos and converting homes to mini-hotels.
Martinez sums up the impact this way: “When we don’t have diversity of housing, we lose what it means to be a community.” She says Sedona needs housing for ordinary workers – plumbers, electricians, people to work in groceries and hardware stores, people to cut hair. “We are all dependent on one another. It’s important to all of us.”
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