2021 Exemplary Project: Newsom Village builds upon UMOM legacy of developing permanent affordable housing

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Newsom Village has the typical cool features of new apartment complexes in the sizzling metro-Phoenix housing market. There’s even a community garden that is now a must-have of modern, urban living. It’s so 2020-something.

But there are some things Newsom Village, a 60-unit community in south Phoenix, does not have that are common with many other new apartment projects opening during an unprecedented building boom. It won’t have the word “luxury” affixed to a sign on its building – meaning “unaffordable” to the average renter. It won’t have vacancies; there are thrice as many applicants as units available.

But United Methodist Outreach Ministries’ Newsom Village also won’t be the last of its kind. That’s a blessing and a sad reality of the affordable housing crisis in Arizona. One of the main causes of homelessness is the lack of affordable housing. Rents continue to skyrocket but Arizona incomes do not.

“We’re pricing all of these people out of the market,” UMOM CEO Jackson Fonder said. “That tells me the only way to solve this problem is to ensure that we have enough low-cost housing for families that we need. And you have to add the support services, the wrap-around services to help them find good jobs so that they can afford the rent. That’s what UMOM does very well.”

Newsome Village, which will welcome its first residents early next year, continues a UMOM initiative that began 10 years ago with its first permanent affordable housing project, Legacy Crossing. Residents will benefit from an array of continuing supportive services to help families overcome struggles and experience housing stability. 

UMOM services and programs are tailored to meet specific needs of families, youth and young adults, single women and military veterans and their families. That could mean educational and workforce services, health and wellness, financial counseling, job training and employment assistance. 

UMOM has completed an affordable housing complex about once a year for the last 10 years. Additional UMOM projects, like Newsom Village and Bethany Crossing that opened this summer, are in the pipeline. The construction pace won’t change for the foreseeable future, thanks, in part, to the Arizona Community Foundation Pre-development Loan Fund that is vital to affordable housing projects getting off the ground. LISC Phoenix is a partner with ACF in a fund that provides zero-interest loans to nonprofit developers for the pre-development phase of affordable housing projects. Financing typically is not available for this early phase. 

“To be candid, I’m not sure nonprofits can pull it off without pre-development funds,” Fonder said. “They’re especially important to UMOM and our counterparts throughout the low-income housing process. It is a highly complex project to put one of these together. There are a lot of costs associated with creating a number of applications as you move along in the timeline. …. It’s really important toot have a solid source of pre-development funds to help you out if you want to be your own developer.”

Newsom Village, near Ninth Street and Broadway Road, is a bigger, more polished version of Legacy Crossing, which today stands as testament to the importance of using high-quality construction to build affordable housing. Apartments have in-unit laundry facilities. The family focus of the project is clearly reflected in its design. There are no one-bedroom units; only apartments with two or three bedrooms. The outdoor children’s playground is prominent.

And like UMOM’s other affordable housing projects it is a welcomed addition to the community. 

“There’s an approach that we take going back to Legacy Crossing that includes all of the projects,” Fonder said. “It’s a community-driven approach. …  We are big time into the individual neighborhoods. 

“I think about what affordable housing does for a market area, what we’re doing in Newsom Village. There’s an area, south Phoenix, that has been traditionally underserved for years. When we put together a project like Newsom Village for people who call this part of Phoenix home, we’re helping current and future generations.” 

Newsom Village is named for Darlene Newsom, former longtime CEO of UMOM who led the nonprofit organization’s push to expand from offering shelter services into affordable housing development. Her legacy will continue to inform policy discussions about fulfilling the universal need of families to have housing. 

“We feel that family homelessness is solvable if we’re aggressive enough,” Fonder said. “But this thing’s not going away as long as Phoenix keeps being entered in the top two or three places to live, fastest growth and now rents are skyrocketing. That tells me that homelessness isn’t going to decline anytime soon. And there’s no magic pill for this.”