The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community continues to be at the forefront of ensuring that its members have access to affordable housing. 

On February 7, the SRPMIC officially opened its new neighborhood of transitional homes on the northeast corner of Alma School and Osborn Road. Council, 2024-2025 SRPMIC royalty, directors, management, and other distinguished guests attended the ribbon cutting, which also featured an open house tour. 

Recipients of the transitional housing apartments moved in the following day on February 8. The new Community homes are for eligible SRPMIC members between the ages 18-24. 

During the open house tour and ribbon cutting, SRPMIC President Martin Harvier thanked those in attendance and shared that he was pleased that more membership will have access to Community homes. He also detailed the history of the land the new Community homes reside on. “Most of us know, the transitional homes were over on Center [Street] and Camelback [Road] since 2010. With the new development here, Council made decisions to build housing for our Community,” said Harvier.

He continued, “This started in 2019, working with staff and getting the architects to draw up plans. Then the groundbreaking was in 2022.”

Each of the new transitional homes feature two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a spacious living room area, a kitchen equipped with appliances, a washer and dryer, as well as a backyard patio and covered parking. The construction of the homes was completed by MayDall Construction. 

 “I always say when you have a Community member that’s doing a project, I think they’ll take a lot more care knowing that this is for the members,” said Harvier. “This is an exciting day. We’ve been blessed to do what we’ve been able to do here.”

Following his remarks, 2024-2025 Miss Salt River Sialik King performed the national anthem in O’odham. 

Later, Heather Swanson, project manager for Engineering and Construction Services, provided a few words prior to the official ribbon cutting. 

“We’ve been a part of this from the initial planning, the design, throughout the construction to now with the turnover and move in,” she began. “All of the design decisions were based on feedback from Public Works who had been the ones maintaining the units, as well as staff from Social Services who were inside of the units as well as hearing about them.”

The feedback both departments gave proved to be crucial as the new homes feature an added layer of accessibility for those with mobility limitations. “We made the homes ‘Fair Housing Guidelines’ compliant. It allows for the opportunity to serve a wider population,” said Swanson. 

Additionally, gone are the bi-fold closet doors which have been known to cause damage to an individual’s fingertips. “All of the closets are now swinging doors, on a hinge. The closets have more storage now because they have double hanging areas with built-in storage.”

Moments later, Swanson presented a shovel which was used during the groundbreaking in 2019 and was later decorated by staff from Social Services. “They had painted and designed it, and this stayed in our office and helped reminded us of our who and our why,” said Swanson. 

Bird Singing and Dancing by the River also performed. 

After their performance, attendees took self-guided tours as well as asked questions about the property.

For more information about the group home and independent living program within the SRPMIC Social Services Department, call (480) 362-5731.