Houston delays support for 19 affordable housing projects following councilmember’s objection

Houston Mayor John Whitmire listens during a City Council meeting Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024,.

Houston City Council has postponed a vote on supporting 19 new affordable housing projects after a council member objected to a proposed development in his district.

Developers behind the proposed projects are seeking the city’s endorsement to move forward with their applications for this year’s highly competitive 9% tax credit program. Federally funded and managed by the state, the program allows developers to charge lower rents by offsetting a portion of their federal tax liability.

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On Wednesday, District F Council Member Tiffany Thomas and At-Large 1 Council Member Julian Ramirez delayed a council vote on the resolution of support by a week. Thomas did not provide a reason for her decision. Ramirez said he had asked the city administration for a list of the principals behind the developments but was told to look up the information himself.

“That is information that the city should be collecting,” Ramirez said. “I think it goes to the heart of transparency in government and what we do. I think the public deserves to know who is benefiting financially from the decision that we make.”

The tax credit program has been one of the largest drivers of affordable housing in Texas for decades. Even though state officials will ultimately decide who gets the tax breaks, without local government backing, a project has little chance of approval.

In Houston, these applications often have encountered protests from nearby residents, particularly in neighborhoods not accustomed to higher numbers of low-income units. Last year, for example, supporters and opponents of two proposed developments clashed repeatedly in the City Council chamber, leading City Council to withhold support for one project.

This year’s discussions, in contrast, have been relatively subdued, dominated largely by developers championing their own projects. District E Council Member Fred Flickinger, however, broke the consensus last week by sending a letter to other members, voicing objections to one of the three developments proposed for his district.

He told the Chronicle on Wednesday that he is concerned about adding three complexes to an area already experiencing rapid growth. His primary concern is with the Forest Pine development planned near the Eastex Freeway in Kingwood. The lack of sidewalks, absence of a Metro stop and its proximity to a highway, he said, render the location unsuitable.

“Obviously people that have moved to an area where there wasn’t low-income housing wanted to live in an area that didn’t have low-income housing,” Flickinger added.

He emphasized, however, that his opposition was not against all such projects, and he supports the other two proposals in his district that aim to provide affordable housing for seniors.

Flickinger said he has not heard of any complaints from nearby residents against Forrest Pine. But this could have been a result of insufficient engagement by the developer and a rushed timeline from the city, he said.

The city typically first unveils its recommended tax credit projects at a Housing and Community Affairs Committee meeting. That did not happen this year, as Mayor John Whitmire has yet to set up the council committee structure or appoint any members.

Thomas, who led the housing committee under former Mayor Sylvester Turner, attempted to hold a committee meeting two weeks ago. Whitmire, however, intervened the evening before to call off the meeting. The mayor’s spokeswoman Mary Benton said that calling a meeting without the mayor’s approval was not the right way to advance the projects.

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Thomas previously cited the urgent nature of the resolution as the reason she tried to organize the meeting. With the state’s March 1 application deadline fast approaching, she expressed concerns that the mayor’s timeline might not allow enough time for council members, residents and developers to thoroughly review and discuss the proposed projects.

I am “acutely aware of the depleted housing legacy in Houston, the ‘Not-in-My-Backyard’ campaigns, and the limited knowledge the general public has about how the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program works in our city and our role,” she said in a statement released after Whitmire called off the committee meeting. “At the current pace, I am concerned the city may not create space for robust dialogue regarding projects that can potentially guard against the growing unaffordability in Houston.”

She did not respond to requests for comment on her assessment of the process since then.

The city reviewed 34 tax credit applications for 2024 and proposed support for 19 based on a competitive scoring system that takes into account factors like housing needs, income levels and the presence of high-performing schools and transit options. The scoring system aims to avoid concentrating affordable housing developments in lower-income areas.

“We need to also make sure that the projects are representative and inclusion of all of Houston and not let folks pressure us or the department to place them in communities that are readily receiving them instead of where they need to be,” Whitmire said during a City Council meeting last week.

Meanwhile, the city received no applications this year for Districts C or G, which boast the highest median household incomes in Houston — $114,100 and $94,900, respectively, compared to the citywide average of $56,000, according to city data based on the U.S. census. In fact, the two districts were home to the two contentious projects that sparked quick backlash last year.

Alan Watkins, executive director of the Houston Housing Collaborative, said the Whitmire administration needs to produce a comprehensive housing plan and come up with creative ways to incentivize affordable housing developers to also consider building these projects in affluent neighborhoods.

“What it boils down to is that in order for us to plan effectively and thoughtfully, we need a comprehensive housing plan, not just for one district, not for several districts, but we need it for the entire city,” Watkins said.