It was May 2022, and in a few months, the Latino-focused nonprofit Chicanos Por La Causa was set to open a new affordable housing development in the Palomino neighborhood of North Phoenix, a small but meaningful effort to address the city’s gargantuan housing problem. Then, on the second to last day of the month, Martinez turned on the TV and saw the project engulfed in flames from a fire that had started the previous night.
That afternoon, while people celebrated Memorial Day with hot dogs and potato salad, Martinez visited the site where a nearly 75% completed structure had stood the day before. The beautiful building had turned into a mountain of charred lumber. Everything was black, “just smoldering,” said Martinez, the organization’s vice president of economic development.
The ashen remains were the work of an arsonist, according to the Phoenix Police Department, though the culprit has never been identified. An investigation remains active, though police spokesperson Sgt. Brian Bower told Phoenix New Times that no suspects have ever been contacted. While CPLC has seen footage of the perpetrator running in and out of the complex, the arsonist is visible only in silhouette.
The crime gutted everyone at CPLC. Like Martinez, many staffers woke up to the shocking news that the housing project they had poured their hearts and souls into developing was now burned to a crisp.
The project, which had not yet been named, had been 10 years in the making. CPLC purchased the land in 2013, targeting a traditionally low-income area with a notoriously high crime rate. According to Martinez, residents used to call the neighborhood “the Scorn.” CPLC aimed to change that by opening 53 affordable housing units for needy families.
Now it was gone.
“It was such a huge setback,” Martinez said last week. “This would have already been in place, and families would have lived here.”
Now, the organization says, the development will rise again.
Chicanos Por La Causa President and CEO Alicia Nuñez talks to attendees at the organization's affordable housing groundbreaking event.
Morgan Fischer
Rising from the ashes
Last week, more than two years after the devastating attack, CPLC broke ground once more on the lot located near 25th Street and Bell Road. Since the 2022 fire, the organization had worked to secure funding from the city and the Arizona Department of Housing for a new development."What the fire couldn't destroy was our spirit,” said CPLC President and CEO Alicia Nuñez at a groundbreaking ceremony on Nov. 15. “From the ashes, we rise stronger and more united. We are here today because we refuse to let any obstacles stand in the way of affordable housing for families in need.”
The three-story complex will comprise 53 apartments, which include one-, two- and three-bedroom multi-family units. The units will go to individuals who make between 40%-60% of the area median income, which is between $40,520 to $60,780 a year. Exact rents will be based on the individual's income but could be as low as $200 a month for a one-bedroom apartment, said Nic Smith, CPLC’s vice president of real estate.
CLPC expects tenants to move in by the end of 2025. Martinez said the complex will attract people who already are working in the neighborhood and looking to cut down on long commutes from other parts of the Valley.
"We see this as providing affordable housing in areas where it's really hard for people who work in the surrounding area to find good, decent, affordable housing,” Martinez said. “Why we picked this place is exactly that — letting people live where they work.”
Completion of the project is still a year away, but when finished, it could help Phoenix reach a notable goal. In 2020, the city approved a housing plan that set a goal of building or preserving 50,000 units of housing over the next 10 years. On Friday, Phoenix Deputy City Manager Gina Montes said that the city “just hit the 49,000 unit mark.”
The arsonist behind the fire remains at large, but Smith said CPLC isn’t worried about a repeat of its misfortune. The fire seemed to be set randomly, and the organization isn’t concerned about the arsonist setting a second blaze.
What CPLC does anticipate, however, is high demand from prospective tenants. Arizona still needs 250,000 new homes and apartments to keep up with demand, according to the Arizona Department of Housing. Due to that demand, “we anticipate huge demand and filling up fast,” Smith said.
"It's been a really long process, a long journey," Smith added. "But we finally broke ground and are off and running again."
