Prescott City workforce housing committee elects chair, advances policy redlines after council study session

The Prescott City Workforce Housing Committee elected Nicole Kennedy as chair and Randy Goodman as vice chair in a 7-0 vote and continued drafting a workforce-housing policy after a council study session on May 27.

The committee, an advisory body to Prescott City Council, voted to make the officer appointments during its meeting and agreed by consensus to meet again in August to review staff-prepared redlines to the draft policy. The committee also received updates on related items including a $200,000 Arizona Department of Housing grant used to commission a housing needs assessment and changes in state permit review law that could affect expedited review processes.

The committee’s work matters because members and councilors described workforce housing as one of Prescott’s most pressing challenges: council liaison Connie Cantelme said the issue has drawn sustained attention and that “there’s no 1 silver bullet,” citing council interest in options such as down-payment assistance and targeted subsidies. Staff reported that council members broadly supported the policy’s direction but requested clearer definitions of fees, a transparent certification process for workforce projects and more detail on eligibility and math used to set income limits.

Committee members, staff and the council liaison discussed several substantive trends that city staff…