It’s been just over two years since the City of San Antonio approved its 10-year housing affordability plan and city officials are celebrating progress toward the plan’s goals, but some of the gains are lopsided.
While the city has seen a boom in new apartments aimed at households that earn 51-60% of the area median income (AMI) — that’s roughly $31,000-$37,000 in income for an individual — there has been significantly less production of apartments for households that earn 50% or less than AMI.
Expected production for apartments for 51%-60% AMI earners exceeded the Strategic Housing Implementation Plan (SHIP)’s roughly 1,000-unit goal nine times over as of last year.
Meanwhile, the city saw another 1,000 apartments built or added to the pipeline for households earning 30% AMI or below. The 10-year production goal for that income bracket is nearly 5,900.
In addition to increasing housing stock, the city has ticked six items as “complete” on a list of 36 different strategies that are part of the SHIP, which is aimed at closing the gap between the rising cost of housing and what San Antonio residents can afford.
About 80% of the strategies are “actively being worked on,” said Veronica Garcia, director of the city’s housing department.
Another 16 strategies are in progress — including establishing a virtual and physical one-stop “housing shop” for residents to find or keep their housing and other related social services, Garcia said.
Work on another 13 strategies will remain active throughout the life of the plan, such as ceasing “public support of market rate development that will displace residents.”
Bolstered by federal grants, some Bexar County funding and the $150 million municipal housing bond approved by San Antonio voters in 2022, the city has also made headway toward increasing housing inventory by producing or preserving 28,000 housing units.
San Antonio is currently a little more than halfway toward its goal to produce or preserve 14,158 rental units, about 20% toward producing or preserving homeownership opportunities and nearly 40% toward its goal to add 1,000 permanent supportive housing units, which house people experiencing chronic homelessness.
“I’m really proud of the housing system and our partnerships,” Assistant City Manager Lori Houston told a council committee on Tuesday. “We’ve done quite a bit over the past couple of years and we continue to work to make sure that there is a coordinated housing system.”
The public can track progress toward the SHIP goals on the city’s website, which features an Affordable Housing dashboard that shows funding sources, location of housing investments and developments in the pipeline.
The implementation plan is like the action arm of San Antonio’s housing policy framework that city council approved in 2018. That framework, which took more than a year to develop, was created in response to the growing number of San Antonians who are overburdened with housing expenses — meaning they spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent, mortgage payments and other costs associated with housing.
“Today, 95,000 households in Bexar County are left without housing options affordable to them,” according to the implementation plan, which was adopted in December 2021. But those estimates are likely to change year-to-year.
The SHIP is a “living document” that will require updates, Garcia said.
“New programs and policies will need to be developed over the next eight and a half years,” said Mark Carmona, the city’s chief housing officer.
One of the strategies outlined in the plan is “accountability to the public,” Carmona said, noting that the dashboard and annual progress report events are part of that strategy.
Local officials, housing experts and stakeholders will be discussing the SHIP and various programs and assistance services this Saturday during a series of panels from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Sam Houston High School, 4635 E. Houston St.
The event will feature breakfast tacos, snacks, youth activities, American Sign Language and Spanish interpretation services and a resource fair.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Deputy Secretary Adrianne Todman is slated to offer opening remarks alongside Carmona, Garcia, Mayor Ron Nirenberg, Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez (D2) and other partners.
“It’s an honor to join Mayor Nirenberg and other local leaders to recognize San Antonio’s progress in expanding housing opportunities across the city,” Todman said in an email ahead of the event. “HUD will remain an active partner in providing San Antonians with the resources and technical assistance needed to ensure everyone has access to quality affordable housing.”
