Supportive Housing Efforts Developing New Homes In Reimagined Communities

Strategic Partnerships Inc.

Several cities, housing authorities, and the Texas State Affordable Housing Corporation (TSAHC) are working with developers to foster more supportive housing options across the state amid rising homelessness brought on by the pandemic.

Supportive housing comprises housing units that include wrap-around services to help households at risk of homelessness gain and maintain housing stability.

The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program is the most utilized mechanism for financing affordable housing development.

It works by letting private investors (corporations or individuals) purchase tax credits that reduce their tax liability. The money developers use to purchase tax credits provides equity for them to build and preserve affordable housing.

Support from cities and counties is critical to creating supportive housing because of the deep levels of subsidies or investment required to build units.

Austin’s Integral Care program operates Housing First Oak Springs, a joint city-county property, financed through multiple sources including 4 percent tax credits.

More recently, the city started plans to purchase two hotels to convert into supportive housing facilities with 2018 general obligation bond dollars. An Austin nonprofit organization is utilizing primarily 9 percent tax credits to build supportive housing in Austin.

The city of Fort Worth is using CARES Act money to build supportive housing for the COVID vulnerable population through its Directions Homes program. Fort Worth is a participant in TSAHC’s Supportive Housing Institute.

A private developer worked with Fort Worth Housing Solutions to participate in a city of Fort Worth request for proposals to obtain CARES Act Funds to fund Casa De Esperanza, or House of Hope, a Fort Worth property that has been converted from an extended stay hotel to a permanent supportive housing community.

A Brownsville nonprofit organization is using multiple financing sources to repurpose a downtown building into supportive housing with a ground floor grocery store, and Houston has been converting motels and hotels into supportive housing for many years.

This article was originally published by Strategic Partnerships Inc.