District 5 Councilmember Tackling Affordable Housing Crisis

Published on July 17, 2024

SAN ANTONIO (July 17, 2024) – Today, District 5 Councilmember Teri Castillo introduced several housing policy requests aimed at reducing housing costs and producing more deeply affordable housing in San Antonio. Several elected officials, including Congressman Greg Casar and Mayor Ron Nirenberg, as well as community leaders stood with the District 5 Councilmember on the City Hall steps as the Community Land Trust (CLT) Tiered Affordability and Stay SA policy requests were officially unveiled.

“Transformative policies like these recognize San Antonio should be reinforcing its historic investments in housing with commonsense policies that cut red tape and use innovative strategies which lower development costs and speed up affordable housing construction,” said the District 5 Councilmember. “Thank you to the community and our elected colleagues for standing alongside this monumental housing proposal.” 

The CLT Tiered Affordability policy could ensure the City of San Antonio prioritizes those community land trust organizations that will develop deeply affordable housing when distributing unused city-owned land. Stay SA seeks to review different methods to ease the construction and process barriers that often slow down affordable housing production. It could also review and develop solutions to maintain and rehabilitate the existing affordable housing stock as well as encourage the production of more affordable units. Both policies are in alignment with the City’s adopted Strategic Housing Implementation Plan.

“San Antonio needs housing now,” the Councilmember continued. “If implemented, these policies may help San Antonio build and rehabilitate more units and realize its affordable housing and supportive housing goals sooner while helping more families accomplish the dream of owning homes they can comfortably afford.”

In San Antonio, one in two renters and one in four homeowners are housing cost-burdened, meaning housing costs are at least 30% of their income. Speakers commented on the importance of increasing the local deeply affordable housing stock to other community institutions like public education and homelessness. 

“By creating and preserving affordable housing throughout our inner city, we can make it easier for our former students to raise a family in the neighborhoods they grew up in and give their kids the opportunity to learn in the classroom they once did,” said Harlandale ISD Superintendent Geraldo Soto.

According to San Antonio ISD’s overview of their right-sizing study for the school year 2024-2025, cited that one of the key findings for declining enrollment was, “the combination of historically high housing prices and lack of affordable housing have caused families to move.” 

The 2024 State of Homelessness report released in May 2024 revealed that there was a 6.8% increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness. The report points toward a variety of compounding factors – one being, the “increase in housing costs,” in San Antonio.  

“Our working-class residents deserve to enjoy the benefits of improved creekways, activation of long vacant buildings, and transit-oriented development without being priced out of their neighborhoods,” added local organizer, Robert Hernandez. “Supporting community land trusts and expanding publicly-supported housing will do just that.” 

The two policy requests will be heard by the Governance Committee next, after which they will be placed on one or more council committee agendas for further development and consideration. 

The full text for each policy can be found on the City Council Consideration Requests website. 

The Community Land Trust (CLT) owns the land, while homes built on it are sold to residents. This unique arrangement means homeowners only need a mortgage for the house itself, not the land, resulting in lower home prices and reduced property taxes. According to research by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, CLT properties had significantly lower foreclosure rates after the 2008 housing crisis compared to conventional properties. This stability helped community members navigate neighborhood price increases effectively.