DEPARTMENT: Neighborhood & Housing Services Department
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Verónica R. Soto, AICP, Director
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: All
SUBJECT:
Briefing on the Fiscal Year 2020 Affordable Housing Budget to include an update on the affordable housing strategies and goals in the Mayor’s Housing Policy Framework.
SUMMARY:
In August 2017, Mayor Ron Nirenberg created the Mayor’s Housing Taskforce to develop comprehensive housing policy recommendations. Over a period of 11 months, the Taskforce engaged in extensive, inclusive, and meaningful community outreach with over 500 community members. The effort resulted in the Mayor’s Housing Policy Framework that was accepted by City Council in August 2018. The Framework identified 5 key action items that must be implemented in order to meet the affordable housing needs in San Antonio and also set housing goals for the next 10 years. The goals were established for owner and renter occupied units and categorized by AMI. Goals were also set for rehabilitation and production of affordable housing units.
The City immediately started to implement the strategies identified in the Framework and allocated $26.1 million to affordable housing in the FY2019 Budget. The funding was used to add additional staff and resources to the Neighborhood and Housing Services Department, expand programs that promote homeownership through down payment assistance and homebuyer counseling, develop programs that support housing repair and preservation like Under One Roof and Let’s Paint, protect residents from displacement associated with development through the creation of the risk mitigation policy, provide assistance to residents impacted by displacement through financial assistance, and facilitate more housing production through gap financing. Additionally, the Mayor created a committee to help identify barriers to affordable housing production in preparation for the Unified Development Code amendment process. The Mayor also reinstated the Housing Commission to provide oversight of the Framework implementation.
The FY2020 affordable housing budget increased by $9 million from $26.1 million in FY2019 to $35 million. This includes $10 million from the General Fund, $14 million in HOME and Community Development Block Grants, $4.9 million from Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), San Antonio Housing Trust, and San Antonio Housing Authority, and funding in the amount of $6.2 million from five city-initiated Tax Increment Reinvestment Zones (TIRZ).
The budget supports the same programs from the FY2019 budget with more emphasis on infill housing, owner occupied rehabilitation, and minor repair. The budget included funding for technical assistance to churches and other non-profits interested in exploring the development of affordable housing on their property. The FY2020 Budget also included an executive position in the City Manager’s Office to enhance the coordinated housing system. The hiring of a Chief Housing Officer was a strategy recommended in the Mayor’s Housing Policy Taskforce Framework. The position will report to the City Manager and is currently posted. Staff anticipates that the Chief Housing Officer will start in early spring 2020.
The FY2019 and 2020 Budget included resources to meet the production and rehab goals established in the Framework. The funding along with the efforts of several City departments, SAHA, and the San Antonio Housing Trust have enabled the coordinated housing system partners to meet and in some areas exceed the established goals for year 2 of the 10 year plan. This helped the partners identify opportunities and challenges associated with housing production. Therefore, the City, SAHT, and SAHA are recalibrating the goals to better reflect the needs in San Antonio.
More recently, the housing partners have worked together on the implementation of the Framework which helped the partners understand the necessity of a coordinated and integrated housing system. In addition to the recalibration of the 10 year production plan, the partners will also undertake the creation of a coordinated implementation plan that assigns each partner roles and responsibilities as it pertains to the implementation of the Mayor’s Housing Policy Framework. The Housing Commission will participate in both efforts.
ISSUE:
Staff will provide an update on the FY 2020 Affordable Housing Budget and Affordable Housing Strategy to include a briefing on the status of the affordable housing production and rehabilitation goals that were provided in the Mayors Housing Policy Framework.
Staff will also provide a briefing on the process to recalibrate the housing goals and the scope for the coordinated implementation plan.
ALTERNATIVES:
This item is for briefing purposes only.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact.
RECOMMENDATION:
This item is for briefing purposes only.