DEPARTMENT: Neighborhood and Housing Services
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Verónica R. Soto, FAICP, Neighborhood & Housing Services
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: Citywide
SUBJECT:
A briefing on the ForEveryoneHome Initiative & Anti-Displacement Agenda
SUMMARY:
Briefing and update on the ForEveryoneHome Initiative & Anti-Displacement Agenda
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The ForEveryoneHome initiative is a nationwide anti-displacement and inclusive growth effort undertaken by Grounded Solutions Network (GSN) and sponsored by the Ford Foundation. The initiative’s goal is to help cities develop sound anti-displacement and inclusive growth policies before displacement pressures become too great. San Antonio was one of three cities competitive selected to participate in ForEveryoneHome, along with Winston-Salem, NC and Indianapolis, IN.
Through our participation in the initiative, the San Antonio ForEveryoneHome team is working with Grounded Solutions Network on the following deliverables:
• Anti-displacement Needs Assessment: A needs assessment that identifies current and emerging housing challenges with special attention to needs of low-income communities of color. The Housing Commission was briefed on this item in February 2020.
• Anti-displacement Agenda: A set of recommendations for anti-displacement with a racial equity focus. The Housing Commission will be briefed on this draft agenda in February 2021.
• Implementation Plans: Two implementation plans for items from the agenda. These will be completed in June 2021.
The San Antonio ForEveryoneHome leadership team is a mix of city and community leaders including:
• Pedro Alanis, San Antonio Housing Trust
• Monica Cruz, PhD, Housing Advocate & Applied Demography Scholar
• Rebecca Flores, Housing Advocate
• Jose Gonzalez, Alamo Community Group
• Jessica O. Guerrero, Housing Commission Chair and Board President of Vecinos de Mission Trails
• Tuesdaé Knight, CEO of San Antonio for Growth on the Eastside (SAGE)
• Richard Milk, Director of Policy and Planning for San Antonio Housing Authority (SAHA)
• Leilah Powell, LISC San Antonio
• Graciela Sanchez, Executive Director of Esperanza Peace and Justice Center
• Verónica R. Soto, FAICP, Director, NHSD
• Amin Tohmaz, Assistant Director, DSD
• Dianne Trigg, Housing Advocate & SAHA Resident
Representatives from the Office of Equity and San Antonio Metro Health District also participate. The initiative’s community engagement is led by Fabiola Torralba and Francisco Gonima.
The ForEveryoneHome initiative is being coordinated with the city’s Strategic Housing Implementation Plan (SHIP) process. The SHIP process will define affordability for the city, recalibrate the city’s affordable housing target goals and develop an implementation plan to reach those goals. The implementation plan will include strategies that coordinate with other departments, entities, and initiatives. Included in these strategies will be those that Protect and Promote Neighborhoods in line with the anti-displacement focus area from the Housing Policy Framework. ForEveryoneHome will be the lead initiative for those anti-displacement strategies, with the selected implementation strategies from the anti-displacement agenda incorporated into the SHIP strategies.
ISSUE:
In February of 2020, the findings of the needs assessment were presented to the Housing Commission. Since that time the ForEveryoneHome team developed the draft of Growing Together: An Anti-Displacement Agenda for San Antonio. Growing Together is a draft report that identifies five displacement and inclusive growth challenges our community faces and 34 actions to address those challenges. The challenges in the draft are listed below.
Challenge 1: Reduce formal evictions, informal evictions and lease non-renewals, which will rise when national and local moratoriums end.
Challenge 2: Preserve existing affordable and low-cost rental housing.
Challenge 3: Prevent San Antonio’s manufactured home parks (mobile home parks) from closing.
Challenge 4: Protect homeowners from rising expenses.
Challenge 5: Ensure investments & developments don’t create displacement pressure.
The Housing Commission was briefed on Growing Together and next steps to finalize the document on February 24th.
ALTERNATIVES:
This item is for briefing purposes only.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact at this time.
RECOMMENDATION:
This item is for briefing purposes only.