Local opinion: Experience matters: Why Arizona needs leaders like Betty Villegas

As someone who has spent more than three decades in affordable housing and community development, I know good housing policy is not created in conference rooms alone. It is shaped by listening to families, understanding financial systems, and responding to the real challenges people face every day.

That is why I have such deep respect for Betty Villegas.

I first met Betty in 2000 when I became Housing Counseling Manager at Chicanos Por La Causa. Betty had recently joined Pima County as a housing program coordinator. We quickly discovered we shared a background in finance and a belief that homeownership could change the trajectory of a family’s future.

Betty understood that a home is much more than four walls and a roof. Homeownership can build wealth, create stability for children, strengthen neighborhoods, and open doors for generations.

One of our earliest collaborations was a national initiative to increase Hispanic homeownership. At the time, Hispanic families faced significantly lower homeownership rates than the general population. Betty recognized that the solution required more than government funding. She brought together lenders, HUD-approved housing counseling agencies, and public partners to develop a Down Payment Assistance Program that removed barriers while emphasizing financial education and responsible lending.

What impressed me most was Betty’s commitment to long-term success rather than short-term numbers. She believed families deserved more than qualifying for a mortgage. They deserved to understand budgeting, savings, credit, mortgage readiness, and the responsibilities of owning a home. She wanted families to obtain safe, affordable mortgage products that would support, not jeopardize, their future.

That philosophy became critically important when the subprime mortgage crisis emerged.

Across the country, predatory loan products were aggressively marketed to borrowers of color, including many who qualified for safer, less expensive financing. As risky lending expanded, families lost homes they had worked years to purchase, neighborhoods were left with abandoned properties, and communities of color suffered enormous losses of wealth.

Our community was not immune. Once again, Betty responded by bringing people together. She convened lenders, underwriters, housing professionals, counselors, and community leaders to organize foreclosure prevention workshops where homeowners could meet directly with their mortgage servicers. These efforts helped many families remain in their homes while reducing the broader impact on neighborhoods throughout Pima County.

When the foreclosure crisis subsided, Betty understood that recovery required more than rebuilding the housing market. Families often came seeking help with one housing issue only to reveal additional challenges involving employment, food insecurity, legal concerns or behavioral health.

Rather than addressing housing in isolation, Betty helped establish the Pima County Housing Center as a place where residents could access rental assistance, foreclosure prevention counseling, homeownership services, housing development resources, legal assistance, and other community supports. It reflected her belief that stable housing is inseparable from family well-being.

Her vision also extended beyond immediate recovery. Betty helped champion the creation of the Pima County Community Land Trust, supporting strategies that preserve long-term affordability, prevent displacement, and ensure public investment continues benefiting future generations.

Very few public servants have experience spanning the housing continuum: administering federal housing programs, preparing first-time homebuyers, responding during one of the nation’s worst foreclosure crises, building community partnerships and shaping housing policy for the future.

Arizona needs leaders who understand both policy and people. I have worked alongside Betty for more than 25 years, and I have watched her lead with integrity, humility, compassion and an unwavering commitment to public service.

Experience matters. Character matters. And leaders who have spent their careers serving their communities matter.

As Arizona confronts housing affordability, economic opportunity and community development, Betty Villegas represents the thoughtful, experienced leadership our state needs.