HOUSING

Austin joins at least 28 U.S. cities, like Los Angeles, Chicago and Pittsburgh, that have tried out some form of “guaranteed income” — financial assistance targeted at needy households.

As San Antonio voters decide whether to approve the city’s biggest-ever bond program, they’re also considering a new way to fund affordable housing.

The city may have turned its focus to affordable housing, but the remnants of a now-defunct incentive program will provide San Antonio's tallest apartment building millions in incentives.

Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth and Austin all ranked among the top 10 cities for new eviction filings in early April, among the 31 cities tracked by Eviction Lab.

It’s unclear whether landlords face any penalties from state agencies for improperly evicting tenants while receiving rent relief dollars intended to help those tenants stay housed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although it's been a month since SAHA's eviction moratorium ended, no evictions have started. SAHA and the city are committed to helping families in need.

Twenty-five states, including California and New York, preceded Texas in getting federally backed programs up and running to help homeowners suffering financial hardship because of COVID-19.

After being extended five times over the past two years, San Antonio's eviction moratorium is coming to an end on Feb. 28.

Renters are seeing their housing costs jump as population increases, strict zoning regulations and rising home sales push up rent prices.

House hunters are looking for ways to make their offer stand out in a housing market still seeing multiple offers, cash sales, and above-listing price bids.

Texas’ housing crunch has spread outside of the state’s major metropolitan areas and into more rural parts of Texas. Smaller cities and towns saw steep increases in home prices as COVID-19 spread.

A single father who’d been living in a van with his five children is among 538 unhoused individuals and families no longer out on the streets.

The Strategic Housing Implementation Plan - or SHIP - was approved unanimously with one abstention and a second councilwoman away from the dais. At its core, the SHIP is about helping 95,000 Bexar County households who are most at risk of housing instability.

The report, “Ousted: The City of San Antonio’s Displacement of Residents through Code Enforcement Actions,” found 626 orders to vacate and orders to demolish occupied San Antonio homes between 2015 and 2020. Meanwhile, Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, and Austin issued only 16 orders between them.

In a Thursday presentation to council members, city staff showed the results of the various surveys, town hall meetings, and meetings with the Small Business Advocacy Commission from the previous months.

Evictions in major Texas cities have reached levels not seen since the pandemic began. But tenant protections and financial assistance for struggling renters are beginning to fade.

Felix and Rosalinda Reyna had been warned before leaving Kingsville, where they’d lived and worked most of their lives. San Antonio is a seller’s market, they were told, and be prepared to pay well over the asking price.

The Texas Rent Relief program stopped taking new applications at 5 p.m. Friday, citing more requests than money available. However, the City of San Antonio says its Emergency Housing Assistance Program (EHAP), which pays rent or mortgage, and utility bills for San Antonio residents affected by the pandemic, still has enough money to last through the end of the year.

Housing advocates worry some Texans won’t get the help they need as the state enters the cold winter months.

¿Busca asistencia para pagar su renta? Esto es lo que sucede cuando se intenta acceder a los fondos de ayuda distribuidos entre ciudades y condados de Texas.

City of San Antonio leaders are preparing a $1.2 billion, five-year bond program to send to voters next spring.

Episode 2 of “Solutionaries” tackles the lack of affordable housing across America and highlights the people and organizations who are working to solve the crisis.

When you hear the term “affordable housing,” what do you think of?

There’s $1 billion in rental assistance available to struggling Texas tenants. But for many renters, getting the help they need depends on where they live.

With a U.S. Supreme Court decision putting an end to a federal moratorium on evictions, San Antonio officials hope rental assistance programs could help lessen what some have feared could be a wave of new evictions.

We’ve all heard about it by now: Houses are selling like crazy (and they have been for quite some time), interest rates have been at all-time lows, and it seems like everywhere you turn, you learn of another wild real estate story.

Nonprofits and the city of San Antonio are forced to stretch their budget as the price of homes and building materials rise, presenting a challenge in creating affordable housing for low-income communities.

In the first phase of funding from the federal government for emergency rental assistance, Texas received about $2 billion. Now the state has to get those funds in the hands of Texans.

A group of housing advocates protested in front of City Hall to voice their concerns about affordable housing in San Antonio.

The extension comes as the federal moratorium on evictions is set to expire on July 31.

Would you buy a house with a giant tree growing through the kitchen?

Life expectancy declined more in the North West in 2020 than in England overall, a report finds.

Because there’s already a $5,000 minimum for its current exemption, city staff say boosting the homestead exemption to 5% would only save the average San Antonio homeowner with a $195,730 home an extra $27 each year.

The agency cited the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant as reason to keep the anti-eviction measure in place.

A campus geared toward healing education, training, entertainment and living is inching closer to breaking ground.

On the eve of a city council shakeup, a controversial housing development project on the near East Side got the approval it needed to go forward from a board of five council members.

Current owners with a tight budget also could benefit with energy-efficient improvements.

As you’ve probably heard, the housing market is hot, hot, hot. And it seems clear that people don’t just have kids or other family members in mind when it comes to choosing where they want to move.

Landlords don’t generally have to accept housing vouchers, and the people who receive them often spend months trying to find a place that will take them. But the San Antonio City Council unanimously passed an ordinance Thursday that bans property owners who receive city incentives from refusing to rent to someone who wants to use a housing voucher or other federal housing assistance to help pay their rent.

The Emergency Housing Assistance Program has already allocated more than $93 million to more than 34,000 households

“Unfortunately, those delays caused a lot of pain, headaches and heartaches in terms of people just trying to keep a roof over their heads for themselves and their families,” said state Rep. Philip Cortez.

San Antonio’s overall housing market is on fire, and one segment especially has shown tremendous progress on the national stage since last year.

There’s often no place like home, although that sentiment can sometimes fade when a house starts to rack up energy bills and breaks down in places over the course of time.

Taking city incentives like fee waivers or tax abatements could mean future housing developments in San Antonio would be required to accept housing vouchers, like Section 8, from their renters.

As San Antonio's red hot housing market continues to soar, the city is far outgrowing the nation and its Texas counterparts in new-home sales. SAN ANTONIO – Editor’s note: This story was published through a partnership between the San Antonio Business Journal and KSATAs San Antonio’s red hot housing market continues to soar, the city is far outgrowing the nation and its Texas counterparts in new-home sales. Pending sales of new-construction homes in February grew 61.8% in San Antonio from February 2020 to 2021, according to a new report from Zonda. “It means that the market is way bigger than it was a year ago in housing activity,” said Jack Inselmann, San Antonio regional director for Zonda. Read more of this story at the San Antonio Business Journal.

SAN ANTONIO – The typical rent in the San Antonio metro is $1,278, and that’s $20, or 1.6%, higher than a year ago. Rents in the highest-priced zip codes have risen 2% on average over the past year, but have risen 3% in the lowest-priced zip codes. Across the country, according to Zillow’s February market report, home values continued their march upward in February, matching record monthly growth from months prior, while home sales and appreciation soared over the course of the pandemic, rent growth slowed, seemingly a boost for rent affordability. According to the San Antonio Business Journal, in Bexar County, some local zip codes saw huge growth in prices over the last year. The lowest increase was in 78230 on the North Side, which saw its median rise 1.4% to $324,500.

San Antonio – The San Antonio City Council has sent a proposed charter change to voters, which could offer more flexibility in what kind of projects the city can fund with bond money. The city council voted 10-1 Thursday to add the proposal onto the May 1 ballot for voter approval. Ad“There may be still other state laws or federal laws that govern what we can do on specific projects,” City Attorney Andy Segovia said. Perry also criticized the way the proposed amendment was brought to the city council. Amendments added to the ballot by the city council are typically considered by a mayor-appointed charter review commissionAdWhile there was no commission this year, a 2018 Charter Review Commission had previously considered changing the charter language surrounding the use of bond dollars, at Nirenberg’s request.

SAN ANTONIO – A proposal to amend the city charter in the upcoming May election has some council members worried about unintended consequences. City staff presented a proposed charter amendment during Wednesday’s council meeting that would allow more flexibility in how the city uses bond dollars, including for affordable housing projects. Segovia told council members the proposed amendment would not affect their ability to have input on what bond projects eventually go to the voters. A 2018 Charter Review Commission previously considered changing the charter language surrounding the use of bond dollars, at Nirenberg’s request. AdBecause charter amendment elections may only be held every two years, the May 1 election is the first chance to revise the city charter since the Nov. 6, 2018 election.

San Antonio – The City of San Antonio has received $46.7 million dollars from the federal government to bolster its efforts to keep struggling residents in their homes. It appears this could extend the life of the city’s popular Emergency Housing Assistance Program (EHAP) for several months. Excluding the federal money, the total amount allocated to the program, including some $10.1 million on Wednesday, amounts to about $86.8 million. At least 90% of the incoming federal dollars must be used for direct financial assistance, which includes rent, rental arrears, utilities, and home energy costs. If you have been affected by the pandemic and need help with your bills, you can get information on the Emergency Housing Assistance Program HERE.

SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio District 5 Councilwoman Shirley Gonzales is calling on the city to address the termination of the Alazan Apache Courts redevelopment project on the West Side. In a memo to City Manager Erik Walsh, Gonzales said San Antonio Housing Authority interim CEO Ed Hinojosa had reached an agreement to terminate the two-phase project. She said this made the tenants ineligible for leasing redeveloped units under Housing and Urban Development rules. “SAHA is committed to the redevelopment in a method that will not displace our residents and maintain our commitment to maintain and grow public housing to serve the most vulnerable residents of San Antonio. “There are also increasing possibilities under the new Biden administration for new federal funding to increase public housing.

The Texas Supreme Court has extended its emergency eviction relief program for tenants behind on rent through at least March 15, lengthening the program’s expiration date by a month and a half. The move comes after Congress passed a stimulus bill Monday extending the federal moratorium on evictions through the end of January. The state created the Texas Eviction Diversion Program earlier this fall with the help of $171 million in CARES Act funding, the vast majority designated for rental assistance. But some housing advocates said the extension doesn’t go far enough to address the large number of struggling renters, even as the federal government extended its eviction moratorium. "There could be tens of thousands of evictions on the horizon in Texas later this winter,” said Michael Depland, spokesperson for the advocacy group, Texas Housers.

They were “the affordable housing solution of the 1920s and 30s,” said Roger Enriquez, Ph.D., executive director of UTSA’s Westside Community Partnerships Initiative. A spokesman for Shirley Gonzalez, who represents District 5 on City Council, said she was instrumental in the effort now underway, to document and preserve the shotgun houses. He said the goal is to preserve “what we already have.”Enriquez said several plans that are in the works including one that would help families rehab their shotgun houses. The initiative is underway even as the San Antonio Housing Authority is planning to demolish the 501 units that make up Alazan Courts, the city’s oldest public housing project, late next year. (Credit: SAHA) (SAHA)RELATED: Virtual San Antonio Housing Authority groundbreaking sparks West Side protest

Housing's fitful rebound Buyers are eager, but tight credit and higher mortgage rates are holding some back, says Ronald Kaplan, CEO of decking company Trex