Last week, San Antonio City Council approved its last projects using money from the $150 million 2022 Affordable Housing Bond.
Voters may be asked to consider another housing bond as early as next year.
But for now, city officials are figuring out their next move starting out with a series of community meetings over the summer. Officials plan on asking residents for feedback and will share information about the housing bond projects that were funded.
The housing bond was approved in 2022 as a $150 million portion of the city’s larger $1.2 billion overall bond program. City officials have distributed those funds over the past four years, helping build and preserve affordable homes and apartments, among other uses.
During this last wave, City Council allocated $12.2 million to eight different affordable housing projects including one that will rehabilitate 63 units at the historic Robert E. Lee apartments.
The other seven are for apartment construction, home building and community land trusts and will result in 513 new housing units. Of those new units, almost 75% are considered affordable housing.
Eighty-one of those affordable units, including 10 home buying opportunities, are set aside for families who make less than 30% of the area median income, about $23,200 for a two-person household.
The 2022 affordable housing bond has some funds remaining in its coffers.
“The remaining $9 million is proposed to be used for strategic land acquisition to purchase property for the future development of affordable and supportive housing upon City Council’s approval,” said Gary Cooper, a spokesperson for the city’s Neighborhood and Housing Services Department, in an email.
The department will lead a series of community meetings across the city between May and June so residents can learn about the investments planned in their neighborhoods and provide input on what a future housing bond could fund.
Residents can see the schedule and locations for eight meetings online. The first is at Wheatley Heights Sports Complex on May 18.
Any future bond could also face a funding crunch as the city’s property tax revenues are flattening. In January, city officials projected the next bond could be around $625 million, roughly half of the $1.2 billion bond from 2022.
