Housing Choice: Unique Challenges and Opportunities in Texas

1
Housing Choice Unique Challenges and
Opportunities in Texas

• 2004 Texas American Planning Association State
  Conference
• Austin, Texas
• October 14, 2004

2
Housing Choice Scoping Session
Mary S. Chambers League City Walter Moreau
Foundation Communities Joanna Moreno Corpus
Christi Housing Authority Karen Paup Texas Low
Income Housing Information Service Bill Skeen
Tekoa Partners, Ltd. Michaelle Wormly--WOMAN, Inc.
3
Housing Need Economic, Demographic, and Spatial
Dimension

• Immigrant Influx
• Household Composition
• Overstatement of Need for Elderly
• Spatial Component- Rural v. Urban
• Change in Poverty Dynamics
• Boom/Bust Economy

4
Housing Need, continued

• Wage Gap
• House Poor phenomenon
• Jobs-Housing Balance
• Low density sprawl, leapfrog development
• Emphasis on homeownership a detriment to some.
• Colonias new phenomenon

5
Politics of Housing Federal, State, and Local
Levels

• State Level
• Not typically a Governors Office issue
• A Regional Issue for the Legislature
• Local Level
• NIMBY
• Race and Income Segregation
• Property Values

6
Politics, continued

• Concerns about property taxes, schools
• Politics of Density
• Property Rights

7
Affordable Housing Production and Retention

• Low Income Housing Tax Credit
• Other Federal programs have limited impact
  (Section 8, HOPE VI)
• State Programs
• Gentrification
• Manufactured Housing

8
Production and Retention, cont.

• Regulatory Barrier Removal
• Role of the Non-profit Sector

9
Affordable Housing Tools

• Relationship Building is Key
• Apartments over the store
• SMART program (Austin)
• Land Assemblage- LARA (Houston)
• Earned Income Tax Credit initiatives
• Livable wages, credit counseling

10
Housing Choice Unique Challenges and
Opportunities in Texas

• 2004 Texas American Planning Association State
  Conference
• Austin, Texas
• October 14, 2004

11
(No Transcript)
12
The Big Questions

• Over the past 20 years, how have housing issues
  in this region changed? What have been the
  primary forces causing those changes (e.g.,
  demographics, economics, political factors)?

13
The Big Questions

• How do housing issues differ by sub-area or
  metropolitan area in the region today? What are
  the issues?

14
The Big Questions

• How do you feel federal housing programs, such as
  Section 8 vouchers or HOPE VI, work in the
  region? What changes might make them work better?

15
The Big Questions

• Which areas in the region have the strongest need
  for affordable housing? What is fueling that
  need? Are there any particular groups that
  present special affordability challenges in the
  state, such as the elderly, disabled, or current
  public housing residents?

16
The Big Questions

• What barriers exist for affordable housing in the
  region? Which barriers are at the state level?
  Which ones are at the local level? Where in the
  region are the barriers most severe?

17
The Big Questions

• Describe the institutional structures and
  programs for housing planning and financing at
  the state level?
• Of the state-level institutional structures and
  programs, which ones are most effective in
  addressing the need for affordable housing? How?
  How can effectiveness be improved?

18
The Big Questions

• Of the state-level institutional structures or
  programs, which ones are the least effective in
  addressing the need for affordable housing? Why?
  Under what conditions could it have been
  successful?
• Are there any state policy initiatives in the
  region that have been failures? Why?

19
The Big Questions

• Of the various local initiatives or tools for
  planning and for financing affordable housing,
  which ones have been the most effective? Why?

20
The Big Questions

• Are there any existing state task forces or
  commissions that have proposed changes to make
  the production of affordable housing easier?
  What were those changes, and have they been
  implemented? If not, why?

21
The Big Questions

• If you were on a task force recommending new
  programs or institutions for affordable housing
  in your state, what would your three top
  recommendations be?

22
The Big Questions

• Is there a need for training programs in the area
  of affordable housing, including fair housing?
  If so, what kind, and whom should they be aimed
  at?

23
The Big Questions

• Who are the leading advocates for affordable
  housing in the region? Are they effective? If
  so, why?

24
The Big Questions

• Are professional planners in your state viewed as
  helping to solve problems relating to affordable
  housing? If they are, how and why? If they are
  not, what could they do to be viewed as more
  proactive?

25
The Big Questions

• What could the American Planning Association do
  through best practices media to help planners and
  planning commissions address housing choice
  issues?

26
Thank you for attending!

• Learn more at www.planning.org