Local opinion: The road to housing is more than a new law. It is a new opportunity for Arizona.

For more than three decades, I have worked alongside families striving to achieve something that should never feel out of reach: a safe, stable place to call home.

I have sat at kitchen tables with first-time homebuyers as they signed mortgage papers. I have worked with neighborhoods struggling through disinvestment and foreclosure. I have partnered with nonprofit organizations, builders, lenders, local governments and community leaders to finance affordable housing, preserve neighborhoods and create opportunities for families to put down roots.

Those experiences have taught me one important lesson. There is no single solution to Arizona’s housing crisis.

That is why the passage of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is such an important milestone.

This is the most significant modernization of our nation’s housing laws in decades. Rather than relying on one approach, Congress recognized that solving our housing shortage requires modernizing outdated programs, encouraging innovation, improving financing tools, expanding manufactured and modular housing, streamlining unnecessary delays, and making better use of existing land and buildings.

As someone who has spent a lifetime working in housing and community development, I welcome this shift because it reflects what many of us have learned through experience. Lasting housing solutions require partnerships, innovation and a willingness to rethink systems that no longer meet today’s challenges.

Too often, housing debates become polarized. One side argues that government should simply get out of the way. The other believes government alone can solve the problem. After a career in banking, community development, local government, and now serving in the Arizona Legislature, I know the answer lies somewhere in between.

We cannot regulate our way out of the housing shortage, and we cannot build our way out without thoughtful planning.

Arizona needs more housing across the entire continuum. We need attainable homes for first-time buyers, workforce housing for teachers, nurses, first responders, construction workers, and young families, housing for seniors who want to age with dignity, supportive housing for our most vulnerable neighbors and market-rate housing that keeps pace with a growing economy.

Increasing supply is essential, but housing is about much more than building homes.

Housing cannot be separated from infrastructure. Roads, water, sewer, parks, schools, broadband, and transportation all determine whether housing can actually be built. Strategic investments in infrastructure are among the smartest housing investments we can make because they support responsible growth while strengthening existing neighborhoods.

We also need to embrace innovation. Manufactured and modular housing have advanced tremendously and can provide quality homes more efficiently and at lower cost. Adaptive reuse of aging commercial centers, vacant office buildings, former schools, churches and underused public land offers another opportunity to create housing while making the best use of infrastructure we have already invested in.

These are not partisan ideas. They are practical solutions.

Throughout my career, I have worked with builders, nonprofit developers, financial institutions, neighborhood organizations, labor and local governments. During the foreclosure crisis, I saw firsthand what was possible when people came together to stabilize neighborhoods and help families stay in their homes. Those experiences reinforced something I have always believed: we solve our biggest challenges by working together, not by working against one another.

The new federal law gives Arizona an opportunity to build on that spirit of collaboration.

As we move forward, accountability must remain part of the conversation. When taxpayers invest in housing through infrastructure, financing, tax incentives, or other public assistance, those investments should produce measurable public benefits. That can include workforce housing, attainable homeownership, neighborhood revitalization, infrastructure improvements, and long-term affordability. Accountability is not a barrier to development. It is part of building public trust and creating stronger communities.

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is not the finish line. It is the beginning of a new chapter.

Arizona now has an opportunity to modernize our own policies, expand housing choices, support responsible development, invest in infrastructure and strengthen partnerships that help communities thrive.

Housing stability should not be a luxury. It is the foundation of strong families, healthy neighborhoods and a vibrant economy.

Congress has opened the door. Now it is up to Arizona to walk through it.