San Marcos City Council Amends Affordable/Workforce Housing Policy

Staff Reports

On Tuesday, the San Marcos City Council considered the approval of amendments to the Affordable/Workforce Housing Policy.

Council discussed amendments regarding the criteria for approval of applications relating to the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program administered by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs.

Staff is recommending the following amendments, which were proposed by the Workforce Housing Council Committee, be made to the policy:

• Amend criteria to ensure if a project is requesting a tax exemption, revenues from such a project remain in San Marcos.
• Amend criteria to ensure projects (whether tax-exempt or not tax-exempt) utilize local support services.
• Add a flowchart to the LIHTC application to more easily distinguish the process and criteria for projects requesting a tax exemption and projects not requesting a tax exemption.
• Add minor revisions to the policy language so that it is easier to read.

The Affordable/Workforce Housing Policy has been changed five times since its adoption in July 2014; the last amendment was in November 2019 to add further language to the nine criteria and allow for tax exemptions.

“We’ve been working on this for a few months,” council member Melissa Derrick said. “The way it happened was chaotic, but it was a good learning experience. I think we got everything nailed down.”

Shannon Mattingly, Director of Development and Planning, Services said she thinks the LIHTC program has evolved into a good policy; the city has learned and added onto the policy and given depth to it.

The council voted 6 to 0 with Council Member Dr. Jocabed Marquez absent to amend the modified language and replace ‘Should’ with ‘Shall’ in criteria 8 through 8c.

The main motion passed 6 to 0.