Mesa may have roots as a small Mormon settlement. But today, it’s the third largest city in the state with nearly half a million people living in it. Needless to day, it has grown a lot. And, in the next 20 years or so, it’s expected to grow even more by another 72,000 people.

But housing costs there have also gone up at the same time that families have gotten poorer. Today, nearly 14,000 Mesa families are considered to live in poverty.

So how does this all add up, and how will the city prepare for this kind of growth going forward? Those are the questions the city’s Master Housing Plan is attempting to answer. It was last completed in 2003, and now, the city is holding a series of public meetings as it creates a new one.

For more on this, The Show spoke with Liz Morales, Mesa’s housing and community development director. The end goal, she said, is to guide Mesa City Council on planning decisions going forward.

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