The Housing Crisis: Arizona’s Revolving Door
Across the country, the housing crisis isn’t just a real estate problem– it’s a public health problem, an economic problem, and a matter of justice. Dream.Org’s Housing For All campaign highlights how justice, climate, and the housing crisis are overlapping challenges. Our goal is to bring unlikely allies together to tackle the growing lack of affordability, accessibility, and opportunity. Arizona is the second of a four-part series covering housing struggles across four states: Arizona, New York, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. These are the untold stories from communities most affected by housing instability and those working tirelessly to build a world with affordable, safe housing for all.
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By Sara Stickney, Press Secretary
In 2026, the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in the state of Arizona is just shy of $1,800 a month. A full-time worker would need to earn $34.18 an hour or a household income of $71,101 annually to afford that price. The median hourly wage for Arizona’s most common occupations is $17. This doesn’t take into consideration the nonrefundable application fees, credit checks, and valuable time spent all before ever signing on the dotted line. All across the state, everyday hardworking Arizonans are struggling to put a roof over their heads and provide the necessities of a safe and secure life for themselves and their families. For justice-impacted individuals, the basic desire for safety and dignity is the same. Yet, thanks to discriminatory background checks and preconceived biases, formerly incarcerated individuals face housing challenges unbeknownst to the general public and, as a result, end up ten times more likely to experience homelessness.
Jessica Bruner, the Business Partnership Manager for the Arizona nonprofit Arouet, is no stranger to these struggles as someone who was previously incarcerated. After thousands of dollars in application fees and rescinded approvals due to her background, she currently pays a monthly rent that is about ninety percent higher than the average in the area, with little hope of finding something more comparable. Her co-worker and Engagement Administrator, Jamie Whipple, shares a similar story. Without her grandma to go home to after her release, Jamie and her partner needed to find a home to share with their kids. Even with enough money, they faced barrier after barrier, until eleven months later, they were left with no option but to purchase their first home, which came with its own set of challenges.
It’s a common refrain among those at Arouet. The independent nonprofit was founded to provide women directly impacted by the justice system with wrap-around social support in health, education, career pathways, family integration, and beyond. They employ a significant number of women similarly impacted by the system who feel a duty to be of service to the community through sharing their own experiences and helping women navigate the struggles of reintegration. Housing may not be Arouet’s primary program focus, but Arouet’s VP of Internal Affairs and Program Operations, Brandy Smith, identifies the lack of stable housing as a key contributing factor to the “revolving door” of incarceration.
The Revolving Door
The ”revolving door” refers to those experiencing cycles of incarceration and release, of which Brandy has firsthand experience. She first went to prison back in 2001, and the lack of fair or second chances upon each of her releases made it easy for her to stay a victim of the system. “Anybody who's been incarcerated, you see kind of this revolving door. You see people go home and then all of a sudden you look around across the yard, and now they're back,” she reflects. It wasn't until Brandy’s final time in prison that she finally saw herself in that cycle and began seeking the experiences of her peers to help her step away from that revolving door.
Research from the Department of Health and Human Services finds a direct link between stable housing within the first several weeks or months post-release and the prevention of reincarceration. The Prison Policy Initiative echoes these findings, stating that those who have been incarcerated only once face a rate of homelessness 7 times higher than the general public, but for those who have been incarcerated multiple times, the rate rises to 13 times higher. This problem is exacerbated in Arizona by three guidance documents the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) rescinded in November of 2025: a 2015 notice excluding the use of arrest records in housing decisions, a 2016 Office of General Counsel guidance on the application of fair housing standards to criminal records, and a 2022 implementation memo. These guidelines came from the federal level and forced landlords to evaluate applicants individually rather than using blanket criminal record bans. With their removal at the federal level, Arizona has no fair housing law to replace those guidelines, allowing private residential landlords to consider criminal conviction history as part of the application process.
“Here in Arizona, we just allowed a very important bill to lapse, which was the Fair Housing bill that we had in place for the last decade,” says Jessica. “Now apartment complexes and rental places can discriminate against you one hundred percent for your background without any questions asked. It doesn't matter what your income is or that you make three times the amount of rent. They can deny you because you have a background.”
Crime-Free and Affordable Housing
With the barriers barring easy access to the standard rental and homebuying process, many justice-impacted individuals are forced to turn to Crime-Free or affordable housing options. But Brandy speaks to the pitfalls of both avenues.
Crime-Free Housing began as a crime prevention program by an Arizona police department in the 90’s as a part of the war on drugs. Brandy claims that eviction requirements used to be simple; if a tenant or their guest committed a crime on the property, they were evicted - which in and of itself is ineffective and problematic. But now, because it's not regulated in Arizona, apartment complexes and investment groups are abusing Crime-Free Housing with legal addendums and blanket bans on criminal convictions. Not to mention that Crime-Free housing policies have been proven by a recent analysis from The Arizona Republic to fail at reducing crime at all, with evictions increasing by 39% and disproportionately affecting low-income and minority renters.
“What they're doing is creating an eviction-to-prison pipeline. They are literally putting people on the street with these archaic, non-regulated policies, and preventing people from living somewhere safe.”
On the flip side, affordable housing is grossly misunderstood, and Arizona is “one of six states with the most severe shortage of affordable rental homes for extremely low-income renters,” according to the Arizona State Law Journal. Only 24 affordable rental homes are available for every 100 extremely low-income renter households, in large part due to Arizona’s lack of tools shown to increase affordable housing availability, including rent control policies, mandatory inclusionary zoning, and tax increment financing. This is only exacerbated by the prejudices of prevalent factions in Arizona, particularly its suburbs, like the Not In My Backyard Movement. The group pushes false narratives against ventures like affordable housing due to the misconstrued belief that “affordable” equates to “the projects.” Brandy insists this is not the truth, and research backs up her claims. Bell Policy claims there is no evidence that affordable housing increases crime and, in lower-income areas where new housing projects are built, violent and property crime, in fact, decrease. Affordable housing is directly linked to improving housing stability.
Jessica suggests it should be called something else entirely. “I think it's sustainable housing instead of affordable housing. And I think that it is time for us to flip the narrative on these investors, on the large corporate apartment complex owners, and say, ‘Why are you only looking at one piece of a bigger picture?’”
Arouet’s THRIVE Model
Arouet also understands that housing is only one of many contributing factors to the bigger picture of recovery and reentry. For over nine years, Arouet “has helped women tap into their own strengths, identify viable career paths, and establish stable, self-sufficient lives outside of prison”, and the newest tool in their arsenal is their THRIVE Continuum Model. The acronym stands for: transformation, hope, resilience, independence, vision, and economic prosperity, and is their way to measure an individual's path through the reentry process.
Anaiis Ballesteros, Arouet’s VP of External Affairs and Advancement, says of the new model, “It allows us to move participants through the journey, understand the barriers they're facing in that moment, how we can support them — whether it's resources that we have and that we can provide them directly or outsource.”
Jamie shared the story of a participant who, after facing barrier after barrier in transitional housing, job security, and transportation, with the support of Arouet, is now paid up in rent and no longer in an Intensive Outpatient Program or IOP – a structured treatment program usually for substance abuse or mental health. “She’s doing phenomenal but told me she didn’t know how she would have gotten there without the support to make a phone call. We’re trying to enhance that. We want them to be able to feel motivated and confident in their own shoes. Once you're motivated, you can accomplish anything.”
Arizona’s Progress
The support of nonprofits like Arouet is essential to the restoration of housing stability for justice-impacted communities, but true progress requires the aid of Arizona’s justice system. Housing Solutions Lab points out that cities across the country are realizing that the reduction of incarceration is directly tied to housing needs, and those needs cannot be addressed without changes to the criminal justice system.
“We need legislative moves to back up [our stories]. We need protections that are going to protect this community, regulations that are going to regulate the way in which housing operates. And we need pathways to success when it comes to housing,” says Jessica.
Arizona has made some recent steps in that direction. The state became a part of the national Reentry 2030 initiative in April 2025, which is committed to expanding access to housing, health care, and jobs. More recently in October of last year, Governor Hobbs issued an Executive Order, which directs state agencies to coordinate with reentry service providers to provide timely connections to housing supports, behavioral health services, and community-based programs. The Order also aims to expand Second Chance Centers across the state, which served nearly 2,000 participants in 2025.
These state-led initiatives are promising steps toward combating the housing crisis for previously incarcerated individuals, but on a human level, in neighborhoods, grocery stores, and other community spaces, there’s a need for a change in the narrative surrounding individuals with a criminal record.
The Power of Story
When Brandy was released for the final time, her ability to put a roof over her head relied on the receptive kindness of a pair of elderly strangers. Her husband approached them while out helping the community about his interest in renting one of their properties and was hesitant at first to be honest about Brandy’s situation. But after a very transparent letter from inside the corrections facility, they took a chance on Brandy and her husband, allowing them to live there for two years, build their credit, and save up enough money to buy a house.
“The cool thing is those elderly retired folks who had never known anyone [justice-impacted], [who] didn’t even know where the prison was, after their experience with renting to us, they now only rent their properties to people who are justice-impacted. A small thing, but a big ripple.”
Brandy attributes this success to her willingness to be vulnerable and share her story, and Jamie echoes that sentiment. She’s the Vice President of her homeowners association, and her bio, which is sent out to all 300 residents in her community, clearly states she is justice-impacted. Instead of feeling ashamed of her past, she’s claimed it as part of her identity, and it's that sort of honesty and bravery that will most effectively break down those barriers of perception.
“That's what people don't realize, when you have justice-impacted folks in your community… it's safer because I live here,” says Brandy in reference to claims of increased crime in communities where those with convictions settle. “Because I've been there, done that. Now I'm reformed and I don't want that in my neighborhood."
She also reminds justice-impacted individuals that their story is their power when it comes to the fair and second chance movement, but also to learn from her mistakes and not be a victim of their story. “You did whatever you did that got you incarcerated in the first place. You have to own that, and then you have to be diligent in having successes after that.”
Arizona’s housing crisis has affected every corner of the state in some manner or another, but it has come down hardest on those with criminal records looking for a place to call home to get back on their feet. Their desire for stability is no different from their neighbors, and they have no less right to dignity for mistakes in their past. Only together, through legislative movement, the efforts of organizations like Arouet, and the bravery of justice-impacted people willing to share their stories to change the narrative, will progress be made and the revolving door be closed permanently.
