Mesa proposes sale of three Washington Escobedo lots to Habitat for Humanity for affordable, perpetual homeownership

Mesa City Council staff and representatives from Central Arizona Habitat for Humanity on Oct. 2 presented a proposal to sell three city-owned parcels in the Washington Escobedo Heritage neighborhood to Habitat and to pair the sale with a neighborhood revitalization program for existing homeowners.

The council was told the three vacant parcels would be conveyed by negotiated sale at $40,000 per parcel; those proceeds would be reinvested in a home-repair program for the neighborhood. Habitat proposed to develop between three and six owner-occupied homes on the parcels and to use a “lasting affordability” model — a resale-restricted ground-lease approach by which Habitat retains the ground lease and limits resale appreciation so future buyers can also afford the homes.

Jeff Robbins, the city’s redevelopment administrator, said the properties are small and narrow but suitable for infill construction under the neighborhood’s ID2 infill overlay. Todd Rogers of Central Arizona Habitat for Humanity described the affiliate’s proposal to…