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Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025

Would removing ‘snowbirds’ solve Arizona’s housing crisis?

Tallulah Anne, Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting
no

 Getting rid of so-called snowbirds—including seasonal homeowners from Canada—would not solve Arizona’s housing crisis. Though seasonal residents do add to demand in some communities, they make up only a fraction of the state’s overall housing market.

Arizona’s housing shortage stems from factors including years of underbuilding, rapid population growth, rising construction costs, zoning restrictions on higher-density housing and growing demand for affordable units. Since 2010, the population has grown by about 22%, while housing units increased by just 12%. 

As of mid-2025, Arizona faced a deficit of approximately 121,300 homes, according to the Common Sense Institute. Addressing the shortage will require more multifamily and affordable housing, fewer zoning barriers and policies that encourage construction—not eliminating existing homeowners who live in Arizona part-time.

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Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by newsrooms in the Gigafact network.

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The Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting is the state’s only independent, nonpartisan and collaborative nonprofit newsroom dedicated to statewide, data-driven investigative reporting. AZCIR's mission is to hold powerful people and institutions accountable by exposing injustice and systemic inequities through investigative journalism.

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