Three Affordable Housing Projects Approved

The following excerpt if from Councilman Foughts newsletter.

Affordable Housing

We have addressed this subject almost ad nauseam in this newsletter, so let me hit the bottom line first:  All three projects were approved by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA).

Now, let's backtrack a bit to get a grasp of what has happened.

The three proposals ( Kia Pointe,  Pedcore/Live-Oak, and Merritt Heritage) were dependent upon competitive low-income housing tax credits (HTCs) administered by TDHCA and conventional debt. Texas law requires the governing body of communities that have more than twice the state average of housing tax credit units per capita to pass a resolution supporting the allocation of housing tax credits to a proposed development.  

The reason these proposals came before the City Council was to gain that approval.  If a proposal gained an affirmative vote, it is passed forward to TDHCA'S board and competes against other applications from other locations.

It is important to note that Williamson County has just slightly over the average number of these units, but nearly 2 times more than neighboring Milam and Bell County.  Georgetown has nearly 3-times the state average and several of the nearby communities have considerably less than the state average number of these units, and Jarrell has none:

• Georgetown has 2.77 times the state average
• Pflugerville has 2.27 times
• Austin (center) has 1.84 times
• Cedar Park has 1.80 times
• Leander has 1.48 times
• Round Rock has 0.78 times (i.e., less than the state average)
• Hutto, has 0.33 times
• Jarrell has no units of this type.

During the opening discussions, we were advised that Georgetown would be fortunate to get one of the three proposal approves because the process was highly competitive.  As time moved on, we were advised that Georgetown might even get two of the proposals approved.  As things played out, all three were approved.

I voted against all three proposal for reasonsI expressed repeatedly in Council meetings and in this newsletter.  My fundamental reason for opposing these proposals was because the City Council had not yet had an opportunity to think the issue through, develop a sound, reasoned policy on Affordable Housing, and provide guidance to the Staff.  Instead, we were being "pushed" against a developer-imposed timeline. I was the lone Council Member voting against all three measures; my letter reflecting those objections can be viewed by clicking here.

The approval of all three applications begs the question: If all of the units associated with the proposal were added to Georgetown's current inventory, what would be our ratio to the state average, and are there other cities of similar size who have greater ratios.   The answers are:

• Georgetown would have 3.47 times the state average;
• Only two other cities would have higher ratios (San Marcos at 4.22 and Port Arthur at 4.59).

My bottom line is that I opposed all three of the proposals, argued as best I could, but did not convince my colleagues on Council to delay these decisions until the Council had time to give guidance to the Staff.  So be it.  Now my job is to support the decision and move on to other things -- which I will do.  

However, I expect more of these requests to come forward -- and I'll keep you posted as they do.  So stay tuned.