Arizona Law Blocks Local Limits on Small Assisted Living Homes

By Zachery Schmidt 

A new Arizona law pushes back against local governments attempting to restrict small assisted living homes.

Gov. Katie Hobbs signed Senate Bill 1473 into law, which limits local governments in Arizona from restricting the number of beds at small assisted living homes with fewer than 10 residents.

Arizona Senate Majority Leader John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, introduced SB 1473, which passed the state Senate along party lines, 16-11, and saw bipartisan support in the state House, 49-7.

Under the bill, local governments are prohibited from blocking these facilities in residential areas solely because they are classified as assisted living homes.

Local governments are still allowed to enforce building and fire codes, as well as health and safety regulations and zoning laws, according to the bill.

SB 1473 overrides any Arizona local ordinance that is inconsistent with it.

People can take legal action against a local government if they think it is violating the law, the bill says.

Jason Morris, a founding partner of the Phoenix law firm Withey Morris Baugh PLC, sad that as local governments implement zoning and housing regulations, the Legislature is looking into them to see if they are “necessary” or “harming the state’s economic interests.”

Morris told The Center Square this week that the bill shows the Legislature is “becoming more frustrated with local land use controls and [their] impact.”

“As this continues year after year, I think we’re going to see a continued erosion of local control,” Morris noted.

He said SB 1473 is attempting to help these small assisted living homes “avoid a barrier that was causing them to either not open enough of these facilities or be kept out of neighborhoods.”

According to Morris, the reason these facilities were kept out of certain areas was that residents had concerns about how they would change their neighborhoods.

He said the bill is attempting to give more seniors in Arizona more housing options.

According to Carepatrol, an organization that provides senior advisory services, Arizona is projected to have almost 2 million residents 65 and older by 2030.

Meanwhile, small assisted living facilities have become “more economically feasible,” Morris said.

At a February hearing in the state Senate Regulatory Affairs and Government Efficiency Committee, Liz Goodman from Rose Law Group, who represented the Assisted Living Homes Association of Arizona, said local governments began passing ordinances restricting small assisted living homes to fewer than 10 beds.

She cited Paradise Valley, an Arizona city of over 12,000 people, passing a law that reduced the maximum number of beds in small assisted living homes from 10 to six.

Regardless of whether the homes have 10 beds or six, their overhead costs remain the same, Goodman said.

So the reduction in beds means less revenue, meaning the homes won’t be able to stay in business, she noted.

Goodman also pointed out Arizona did not have enough assisted living beds to “meet the need.”

“We can’t meet the need that exists, and with the growing aging population, this is going to exacerbate the problem,” she said.