Neighborhoods| Housing

Access to affordable and safe housing is a right, not a luxury. Whether you have lived in District 5 for months or for generations, as a renter or as a homeowner, you have undoubtedly felt the impact of rising rents and property taxes, both of which are quickly outpacing stagnant wages. District 5 is a treasure trove of culture, community, art, and linear creekways, and we must ensure that legacy businesses, as well as the very people who are the fabric of District 5, can afford to live here. We must implement bold measures to mitigate community displacement. It is imperative, too, that we acknowledge San Antonio’s housing crisis and increasing homeless population are deeply interconnected. We must implement humane and evidence-based solutions to ensure we keep San Antonio residents housed and tenant protections strong. 

  Together with community, we have:

• Voted to support the largest property tax relief package in San Antonio history
• Secured an additional $9.7 Million for home rehab programs through the 2022 and 2023 fiscal budget
• $14.9 Million in Housing Bond Funding for affordable housing production and preservation 
• Secured two Code Compliance Officers for Apartment Inspections
• Collaborated with Congressional office to secure $2 Million for public housing improvements  
• Passed a Deconstruction Ordinance leading to the reuse of salvageable building material  

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• The City of San Antonio receives an estimated 21.7 million in federal entitlements from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. We must shift funds to assure that owner-occupied rehabilitation programs, such as the Under One Roof Program, Home Owner Occupied, and Minor Repair Programs are able to thrive and help our neighbors. 
• Remaining HUD funds must be dedicated toward addressing San Antonio’s growing shortage of 30% Average Median Income rental units. (30% AMI for a family of four is $21,600 annually, whereas the total Average Median Income for District 5 renters is slightly over at $22,584.) District 5 renters need units at 30% AMI. In this historic moment of economic recovery, we must guarantee that when public dollars are used for the construction of a for-profit development, public amenities are secured in return. 
• In order to address San Antonio’s housing crisis, we must restructure our approach and examine purchasing vacant buildings and leverage public funding to provide units affordable to the constituency of District 5. Identifying city-owned lots and using HUD and public funds to create permanently affordable housing will both mitigate displacement and provide housing at the Average Median Income, where it is needed the most. 
• Residents of the San Antonio Housing Authority rightfully deserve transparency from both SAHA and elected officials in addition to safe and well maintained housing. In order to improve as a city, we must uplift our most vulnerable and demand meaningful action when we learn of injustices. City oversight must be applied to SAHA properties, and impact studies must be required of new developments to ensure affordable housing is secured for our most cost-burdened residents. 
• As a city, we must commit to improving and protecting Public Housing -- San Antonio has an opportunity to lead in the nation by decarbonizing and retrofitting public housing, creating green union jobs in the process and guaranteeing that public housing residents will have access to safe, sustainable and permanently affordable housing. 

Together with community, we will: 

• Be accountable to people, not developers.
• Be dedicated to securing funds for owner-occupied and home rehabilitation programs
• Commit to equitable economic development 
• Lead the effort to mitigate community displacement
• Commit to improving and protecting public housing
• Collaborate with federal and state officials to hold SAHA to the highest standards
• Focus investment where housing is needed most.