Housing Choice: Unique Challenges and Opportunities

in Texas

2004 Texas American Planning Association State Conference

Austin, Texas

October 14, 2004

Mary S. Chambers –League City

Walter Moreau – Foundation Communities

Joanna Moreno – Corpus Christi Housing Authority

Karen Paup – Texas Low Income Housing Information Service

Bill Skeen – Tekoa Partners, Ltd.

Michaelle Wormly--WOMAN, Inc.

Housing Choice Scoping Session

Housing Need: Economic, Demographic, and

Spatial Dimension• Immigrant Influx

• Household Composition

• Overstatement of Need for Elderly

• Spatial Component- Rural v. Urban

• Change in Poverty Dynamics

• Boom/Bust Economy

Housing Need, continued

• Wage Gap

• “House Poor” phenomenon

• Jobs-Housing Balance

• Low density sprawl, leapfrog development

• Emphasis on homeownership a detriment to some.

• Colonias – new phenomenon

Politics of Housing: Federal, State, and Local Levels

• State Level– Not typically a Governors Office issue – A Regional Issue for the Legislature

• Local Level– NIMBY– Race and Income Segregation– Property Values

Politics, continued

• Concerns about property taxes, schools

• Politics of Density

• Property Rights

Affordable Housing Production and Retention

• Low Income Housing Tax Credit

• Other Federal programs have limited impact (Section 8, HOPE VI)

• State Programs

• Gentrification

• Manufactured Housing

Production and Retention, cont.

• Regulatory Barrier Removal

• Role of the Non-profit Sector

Affordable Housing Tools

• Relationship Building is Key

• Apartments over the store

• SMART program (Austin)

• Land Assemblage- LARA (Houston)

• Earned Income Tax Credit initiatives

• Livable wages, credit counseling

Housing Choice: Unique Challenges and Opportunities

in Texas

2004 Texas American Planning Association State Conference

Austin, Texas

October 14, 2004

The Big Questions

Over the past 20 years, how have housing issues in this region changed? What have been the primary forces causing those changes (e.g., demographics, economics, political factors)?

The Big Questions

• How do housing issues differ by sub-area or metropolitan area in the region today? What are the issues?

The Big Questions

• How do you feel federal housing programs, such as Section 8 vouchers or HOPE VI, work in the region? What changes might make them work better?

The Big Questions

• Which areas in the region have the strongest need for affordable housing? What is fueling that need? Are there any particular groups that present special affordability challenges in the state, such as the elderly, disabled, or current public housing residents?

The Big Questions

• What barriers exist for affordable housing in the region? Which barriers are at the state level? Which ones are at the local level? Where in the region are the barriers most severe?

The Big Questions

• Describe the institutional structures and programs for housing planning and financing at the state level?

• Of the state-level institutional structures and programs, which ones are most effective in addressing the need for affordable housing? How? How can effectiveness be improved?

The Big Questions

• Of the state-level institutional structures or programs, which ones are the least effective in addressing the need for affordable housing? Why? Under what conditions could it have been successful?

• Are there any state policy initiatives in the region that have been failures? Why?

The Big Questions

• Of the various local initiatives or tools for planning and for financing affordable housing, which ones have been the most effective? Why?

The Big Questions

• Are there any existing state task forces or commissions that have proposed changes to make the production of affordable housing easier? What were those changes, and have they been implemented? If not, why?

The Big Questions

• If you were on a task force recommending new programs or institutions for affordable housing in your state, what would your three top recommendations be?

The Big Questions

• Is there a need for training programs in the area of affordable housing, including fair housing? If so, what kind, and whom should they be aimed at?

The Big Questions

• Who are the leading advocates for affordable housing in the region? Are they effective? If so, why?

The Big Questions

• Are professional planners in your state viewed as helping to solve problems relating to affordable housing? If they are, how and why? If they are not, what could they do to be viewed as more proactive?

The Big Questions

• What could the American Planning Association do through best practices media to help planners and planning commissions address housing choice issues?

Thank you for attending!

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