OPINION — House Bill 2375 is about keeping a promise.
Arizona told its residents — and the federal government — that certain neighborhoods were worth preserving forever. Cities spent decades designating historic districts, establishing protections, and making a legal commitment to their communities. Residents bought homes and built lives in those neighborhoods trusting that commitment meant something.
Then in 2024, a state housing law accidentally broke that promise. In its push to increase housing supply, the law required cities to allow duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes in single-family neighborhoods — but forgot to exclude the historic districts that were never supposed to change. Nobody intended to bulldoze Arizona's historic neighborhoods. It was an oversight. HB 2375 corrects it.
