City, county and SMCISD work to formulate plan for workforce housing
Workforce housing has been a frequent topic for the San Marcos City Council, and it is the first initiative that the new Community Partnership Committee will consider.
The committee includes representatives from the city of San Marcos, Hays County and the San Marcos CISD. At its inaugural meeting earlier this month, the committee heard a presentation from San Marcos City Manager Bert Lumbreras on some ideas for providing housing that is not subsidized but is affordable for most families in San Marcos.
Lumbreras pointed out that upwards of 80 percent of the households in San Marcos make below the average median income for the Austin-Round Rock metropolitan area, which stands in the mid-$80,000s. The median family in San Marcos, Lumbreras said, is $46,000.
With that in mind, and with an eye on keeping the city’s existing housing stock in safe, liveable condition, Lumbreras said the city is looking at housing rehabilitation programs.
“If people are living in a home but they need a little help, we should keep them in their home.”
- Bert Lumbreras San Marcos City Manager
“If people are living in a home but they need a little help,” he said, “we should keep them in their home.”
The city is also looking at ways to take vacant or blighted properties and make them liveable and “permanently affordable,” Lumbreras said. As part of that, the city is interested in finding ways to buy tax delinquent properties from other taxing entities, like the county or school district, and build them up into homes that will become permanently affordable and owner-occupied. The city would create a land bank and acquire the property through some sort of negotiated terms.
“This has been done elsewhere,” Lumbreras said.
SMCISD trustee John McGlothlin asked why the city would be any better at converting tax delinquent properties into workforce housing than a private actor would be. Lumbreras said that the city has an interest in keeping prices down and making sure homes remain owner occupied, whereas developers might not. However, he added, the city is not planning on getting into the building business.
“We don’t profess to want to do that, nor do we have the expertise,” Lumbreras said, adding that the city has partnerships with programs like Habitat for Humanity.
If the city purchases a property, it can put restrictions on the deed to make sure that a person does not buy the house and then immediately sell it at market value or use it as a rental property, Lumbreras explained.
“The last thing you want is to put a house on a property through a land bank and all of a sudden it gets flipped,” he said.
McGlothlin also expressed concerns that as long as the city owns a piece of property, it would be off the tax rolls.
“The intent would not be to sit on those properties,” Lumbreras said. “Our intent would be to put them back, with homes, as quickly as we can.”
San Marcos Mayor John Thomaides assured McGlothlin and other committee members that the city is taking action to create workforce housing and setting aside funds for the initiative.
“We’re putting our money where our mouth is,” he said. “... Our general fund is going to be impacted by it as well, but I’m sure it’s something we can do together.”
Hays County Precinct 1 Commissioner Debbie Gonzales Ingalsbe had questions about where the previous owners of tax delinquent properties would live.
“I think we should be looking for vacant homes that have been vacant for a while,” San Marcos City Council member Saul Gonzales said, adding that the city should also look for vacant lots. “We don’t want to throw somebody out to get somebody else in.”
The family being foreclosed on would be losing their home regardless of the city’s involvement, and as Lumbreras said, there are buyers and developers already aggressively targeting properties in San Marcos.
The Community Partnership Committee is expected to take action on workforce housing at its next meeting, which SMCISD is set to host. The committee will meet Nov. 9.
