Sedona’s $15.5 Million Housing Scandal: City Sits on Millions While Workers Sleep in Cars

Opinion | Investigative

Sedona’s leaders have a favorite refrain whenever the affordable housing crisis comes up: “Our hands are tied.” But the truth, buried deep in the city’s own budget documents, tells a very different story.

According to the Fiscal Year 2026 budget, the City of Sedona is currently sitting on $15.5 million in “Housing Fund Reserves”, money that was already appropriated for affordable housing initiatives. In fact, the council approved $19.3 million for housing in prior years. Instead of building homes, launching projects, or securing land, the money has been left to gather dust in City Hall’s coffers.

Meanwhile, local workers, the very people who keep this tourism machine running, are sleeping in their cars, couch surfing, or leaving Sedona altogether because they can’t afford to live here. Businesses struggle to retain staff, residents are priced out, and the workforce that keeps this city alive is being told there’s “nothing we can do.”

Even worse, the budget reveals that:

The city loaned $2.2 million to a developer for the much-hyped Sunset Lofts project, only for the developer to give the land back. Not a single affordable unit was built. $400,000 was earmarked for down payment assistance, yet over half remains unused. There are no targets, timelines, or performance measures for the housing fund, meaning there’s zero urgency or accountability.

Out of the City’s staggering $110 million annual budget, this $15.5 million housing reserve represents a mere fraction, yet even that tiny portion is being hoarded instead of deployed to address the crisis.

Let’s be clear: This is not a “lack of funds” issue. This is a lack of will issue. City leadership has chosen to park millions of dollars in a reserve account while the housing crisis worsens by the day. And for all their talk of “affordable housing,” the numbers prove they’re not serious about solving the problem.

This isn’t just bad policy, it’s a betrayal of Sedona’s working-class residents. It’s a choice to protect political comfort and pad the balance sheet instead of tackling the housing emergency head-on.

The City’s own documents are an indictment: They have the money. They have the authority. They have the stated mission. What they lack is the courage to act. Until this leadership vacuum is filled, either by accountability or replacement, Sedona will continue to hemorrhage the very people who make it a community instead of just a postcard.

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