Thouhts on Subsidized Housing on Williams Drive

Subsidized housing for low-income families and individuals is advocated to improve their lives as well as being compassionate and improving the economic well-being of all citizens. This illustrates the fundamental difference between constitutional conservatives and progressives. The problems associated with subsidized housing are deemphasized or ignored by progressives who believe the government has the solution to all societies’ ills. Constitutional conservatives believe individual initiative and the free market is the superior approach.

Housing subsidies by the government are not fundamentally government’s responsibility and they are unnecessary and counterproductive. They only derail what the private market can do on its own. Subsidies have profoundly destructive unintended consequences. They undermine the efforts of those poor families who work and sacrifice to advance their lot in life—and who have the right and the need to distinguish themselves, both physically and psychologically, from those who do not share their solid virtues.

Poor families, like every other family, should live where they choose based on their family circumstances, needs, and aspirations. To move up the economic ladder, poor families (again, like other families) would prefer to live in neighborhoods that are safe and healthy, have good schools, and are located close to jobs and economic opportunities. These are the kinds of neighborhoods that support upward mobility for families and especially kids.

The proposed housing along western Williams Drive, Kaia Pointe, Merritt Heritage, and Live Oak are all government subsidized using tax credits and thus have income restriction on those eligible to live there.

These developments will necessarily increase traffic and hence congestion on Williams Drive. There is no public transportation available or planned for this section of Williams Drive. This means more vehicular traffic and the associated problems of entering and exiting Williams Drive.

The City is currently engaged in a study to improve traffic flow and safety while reducing congestion on Williams Drive. According to publically available documents a traffic study will be initiated to identify the scope of the problems and project the demand into the future. The available documents do not mention the addition of the three low income housing developments along Williams Drive, but, clearly they need to be factored into the study. This traffic study will help guide the efforts to mitigate traffic induced problems.

It should be remembered that there are no high schools and only one middle school west of I-35. Adding this low-income, high density housing will add to the school transportation requirements for Georgetown ISD. This will mean more school bus and automobile traffic on Williams Drive. Ultimately, the school district will have to add schools in the western reaches of Georgetown. Low density, rural homes do not add significantly to the school and transportation requirements. Sun City, which dominates the western part of Georgetown with 10,000 homes planned does not put any burden on the school system even though they pay school taxes.

It has been suggested that the addition of public open spaces or parks should be built to mitigate the higher housing density being proposed along Williams Drive. Georgetown was recently given 500+ acres for a park that is currently under development. The combination of San Gabriel and Garey parks certainly meets the need for parks many years into the future. It will likely be many decades before Georgetown needs to undertake the cost of developing and operating another park.

Even though there are medical clinics along Williams Drive, the major hospital is on the east side of I-35. Barriers like I-35 and major rivers have limited crossings and when a crossing is closed, or multiple crossings are closed, significant additional time is required to reach a major hospital. Of course our City tells us repeatedly that it is essential to saving lives that the time to reach a victim and transport them to a hospital needs be minimized to the extent possible.

Finally, people are concerned about increased crime coming along with high density, low-income housing. There are many studies and analyses that show higher crime in and around low-income developments. There are arguments about whether or not low-income developments cause the increased crime, but, the public perception is that it does.