DEPARTMENT: Planning and Community Development
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Bridgett White, Interim Director
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: City Wide
SUBJECT: San Antonio Housing Trust Briefing and Request to Authorize Call of Applications to Allocate $1 million for Affordable Housing Projects
SUMMARY:
Briefing and possible action authorizing the San Antonio Housing Trust (Trust) Board of Trustees to issue a Request for Applications (RFA) to allocate $1 million in available funding to eligible affordable housing development projects, as required by the Rules and Regulations of the Trust. The Trust has coordinated with the City of San Antonio Finance Department to determine the $1 million of funding from the Trust Corpus is available. The Trust also requests approval of the evaluation criteria for scoring affordable housing development projects as outlined in the Request for Applications.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The City of San Antonio created the San Antonio Housing Trust Fund in 1988 with a corpus of $10 million. Interest earned from the $10 million corpus, loan repayments, and contributions from the Public Facilities Corporation/Finance Corporation capitalize the funding rounds, which are held once the fund exceeds $1 million above the corpus. A funding round in the amount of $1 million accompanies this item to be approved by the Housing Commission and City Council. The Housing Trust funds are used to maintain and promote decent and affordable housing and, when possible, maximize the investment of other public and private resources.
The purpose of the Trust is to assist with the City’s revitalization strategy and provide funding support to residential projects, which may not be addressed by the standard HUD program funds due to eligibility requirements. The funds from the Trust are used to provide assistance to eligible programs and projects in the form of secured or unsecured grants; secured primary or secondary, interest-bearing or interest-free loans; matching grants or loans; or as “seed money” low-interest loans to nonprofit or for-profit businesses, community or housing development corporations, or community-based organizations to support affordable housing developments.
The last funding round was held in 2013. The Trust awarded $750,000 to La Risa Apartments, a 237-unit multi-family rental housing development, located at 800 Babcock Road, in Council District 7.
ISSUE:
Prior to announcing the availability of funds and issuing a Request for Applications (attached) for the $1 million, the Trust Board must approve by majority vote a Funding Resolution establishing the availability of funds and the allocation of funds. The Trust Board passed and approved the attached Resolution No. F0810-5A on August 10, 2016. In addition, the Trust Board must obtain approval from City Council to authorize the $1 million in funding that is available and the evaluation criteria for scoring affordable housing development project applications as outlined in the Request for Applications. The request for a Funding Round is consistent with the City’s policies and commitments to provide affordable housing opportunities while pursuing new sources of program support through the Trust.
Once authorized by City Council, the Request for Applications schedule below will be initiated:
|
Date |
Event |
|
September 9, 2016 |
Request for Applications Issued |
|
October 10, 2016 |
Request for Application Closing Date |
|
November 8, 2016 |
Completion of Review/Selection Process |
|
November 9, 2016 |
SAHT Board Approval of Funding Recommendations |
|
November 17,2016 |
City Council Approval of Funding Recommendations |
|
November 18, 2016 |
Award Letters to Recipients |
ALTERNATIVES:
An alternative option is to delay issuing a Request for Applications, in order for the San Antonio Housing Trust to work with OUR SA and DPCD staff on coordinating the use of available Housing Trust funds with bond funds if bond item is passed by voters in May 2017 election. By that time, the Housing Trust anticipates it would have an estimated $1.5 to $2 million in available funds. The San Antonio Housing Trust could also leverage possible sales tax and property tax exemptions in support of a coordinated bond implementation plan to facilitate the development or redevelopment of properties for affordable housing.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Funds for the funding round comes from interest earned on the corpus of the Trust and returned principle and interest income generated from previous Trust awards by the San Antonio Housing Trust Foundation, Inc. There are no governmental funds from federal, state, or local governments.
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends forwarding to the full City Council approval of the availability and allocation of funds for the San Antonio Housing Trust Funding Round.