Prescott City workforce housing committee disbanded; members urge council to fund grant-writing staff

Prescott City’s Workforce Housing Committee wrapped its final meeting after council direction to transfer implementation to staff and dissolve the committee, and several members urged the city and council to fund a dedicated staff position to pursue outside grant dollars and keep momentum on housing initiatives.

Staff opened the meeting by summarizing council direction from its March 10 strategic implementation decision: prioritize Initiative 1 (amendments to the land development code), combine initiatives 4 and 5 into home-ownership tools and explore Initiative 7 (housing resources). Staff said the consultant was asked to provide multiple framework options so council could choose implementation approaches.

Councilman Grady, who spoke to the committee, said several council members are reluctant to commit city dollars and urged looking for non-city funding and renovation options in addition to new construction. “It is what it is,” Grady said, describing the council consensus and pressing the committee’s liaison to advocate for a full-time position to pursue grants and partnerships. Grady cited recent bulletins from the Arizona Department of Housing about homeownership and renovation funding and supported layering financing to expand capacity without relying solely on the city budget.

A long-serving committee member expressed deep disappointment that the citizen committee would be dissolved after three years of work and argued a full-time grant-writing position would pay for itself. The member said retention losses for public safety hires can cost the city roughly $100,000 per vacancy and that reallocating budget toward grant-seeking could save money in the long term.

Staff responded that the council had heard requests for a potential staff position and suggested pursuing philanthropic and foundation predevelopment funds where appropriate, while noting foundations typically do not cover sustained operating costs. The facilitator encouraged committee members to engage in the upcoming budget process and attend council meetings where the resolution formalizing dissolution will appear.

Several committee members also disputed statements they said were made at the council meeting that were not discussed by the committee — specifically that the committee had advocated vouchers or creating a housing authority. “We never uttered the word voucher,” one committee member said, calling for clearer public communication about the committee’s actual recommendations. That same member pressed for a precise city definition of “workforce,” arguing the term should encompass a range of jobs including small-business employees and residents assisted by nonprofit projects such as Agape House.

Business owners and legacy members told the committee that delays in implementing housing tools are already affecting local firms’ ability to retain staff. One business owner who also works as an architect said he is opening an office in Phoenix because he cannot recruit and keep staff in Prescott, shifting payroll and spending out of the city.

Staff closed by thanking members for three years of input and work that created a platform for implementation. The committee was acknowledged as dissolved effective today, and staff said the official resolution would be presented to council at its meeting on the 14th; budget meetings were identified as the appropriate forum for pushing for a funded staff position.

What happens next: council will consider the resolution on the committee’s dissolution and proceed through the budget process; staff and the consultant will develop implementation frameworks for council direction. Committee members and local stakeholders were encouraged to attend the council meeting and budget hearings to press for a funded staff role and to push for clarity about what counts as “workforce” in city policy.

Attributions: Quotes and attributions in this article come from participants in the Workforce Housing Committee meeting. “Councilman Grady” refers to the council member introduced during the meeting; other speakers without given names are identified by role (e.g., “a committee member,” “staff member”) to match on-record introductions and the transcript.