An often routine discussion regarding the allocation of funding toward San Antonio’s housing affordability goals took a largely unexpected turn on Wednesday when the lone conservative on the dais said he didn’t want housing bond dollars used to help undocumented immigrants living in San Antonio.
“There’s so many folks in San Antonio that need affordable housing,” said Councilman Marc Whyte (D10). “Veterans, disabled folks, elderly people … [and] people with low incomes. My hope moving forward is that we continue to push for more affordable housing across our city, but that we focus the funds on San Antonio residents — on United States citizens — and not on undocumented folks.”
Whyte took issue with the inclusion of “undocumented immigrants” in the city’s list of most vulnerable, cost-burdened and low-income populations that the voter-approved $150 million housing bond would support, according to the bond’s guiding principles. The councilman wanted to remove that term from those principles.
“I will not stand by idly while one member of this body tries to launch a conspiracy theory about how our housing bond is being used,” said Mayor Ron Nirenberg, who interrupted Whyte’s comments on the dais at least twice. “So I hope that [it] is very clear: The housing bond … is going to serve only residents of San Antonio. Period. End of story.”
Republican leaders across the U.S., including President-elect Donald Trump, have blamed immigration for the country’s housing crisis, “though a review of economic data and independent research suggests their effect is limited,” according to Reuters.
“I’m not promoting a conspiracy theory,” Whyte said after the meeting. “I was just simply asking the question and trying to say, here’s how I think we should be spending our money.”
The U.S. Fair Housing Act prohibits housing discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status and disability, regardless of immigration status, Nirenberg and City Attorney Andy Segovia noted.
“If the council wanted to do a project that only served undocumented [people] or wanted to do a project that didn’t [at all], there’d be severe challenges on both sides,” Segovia told council.
During the meeting, Whyte asked Veronica Garcia, director of the city’s Neighborhood and Housing Services Department, if the city knows if any apartments or homes the city has created through the bond that are or have been occupied by undocumented people.
“We don’t have that information, but I can say that none of the projects that council approved were specific to say we will only serve undocumented immigrants or anything like that,” Garcia said.
Nirenberg again bristled at Whyte’s line of questioning in his closing remarks.
“The hypotheticals are appreciated for drama, but they only serve the purpose of creating unfounded, factually incorrect conspiracies about a voter-approved bond program, which is very successful in doing its job,” Nirenberg said.
So far, affordable housing bond funding has been awarded to 23 different projects that will produce or preserve almost 4,200 units, Garcia said.
The bond, passed in 2022, plays a critical role in the city’s 10-year housing affordability plan. Three years into that plan and two years into the bond, building or preserving homes for the lowest-income population remains a challenge.
In what is expected to be the last round of bond allocations, the city will adjust its project scoring matrix to encourage the construction or preservation of rental homes that a household earning 30% of the area median income or less could afford. That’s about $23,900 annually for a family of three.
Councilwoman Sukh Kaur (D1) suggested, and several council members and the mayor supported, that the city should also encourage affordable housing near schools —particularly in and around the urban core.
Looming demolition plans for the Soap Factory apartments have triggered negotiations about school and housing facilities between developers and San Antonio Independent School District.
This funding round will include nearly $36 million in bond and federal funding for rental housing production, rehabilitation and acquisition as well as homeownership production and permanent supportive housing.
“We expect to release the [request for proposals] next week,” Garcia said, and council is scheduled to hear project recommendations from staff in April.
