The planned co-located health and human services department building and affordable housing development on Airport Boulevard known as the North Campus development hit a snag Tuesday after it was announced in a Commissioners Court meeting that the project did not receive local support from state Rep. Dawnna Dukes to receive affordable housing development tax credits.[/caption]
Travis County missed out on roughly $7.8 million worth of affordable housing development tax credits, leaving staff and the Commissioners Court to ponder how they will make up the difference in funding for the planned affordable apartments on Airport Boulevard.
The project failed to gain local support from state Rep. Dawnna Dukes that would have helped the project rank higher.
The county planned to use funds through Texas's Housing Tax Credit Program to build 150 housing units on land known as the North Campus property spanning 5325-5335 Airport Blvd., Austin. In addition plans call for a 350-car parking garage and office space for the county's health and human services department.
Residents would have to meet certain low-income requirements to be able to live there. For some units, a four-person household would have to make no more than $46,680, or 60 percent of the area’s median annual household income, annually to qualify for residency, according to the presentation. About 90 percent of the units would have been "deeply affordable," County Judge Sarah Eckhardt said.
This rendering shows the planned residential units on Airport Boulevard.[/caption]
"We will be looking to make up that difference with other revenue sources os that we can maintain that kind of affordability," Eckhardt said.
Travis County
commissioners in January voted to put their support behind the request for tax credits in connection with the affordable housing development. The resolution of support added two points to the scoring for the county’s application for tax credits.
Eckhardt said the scoring process allows state representatives to support projects seeking tax credits to build affordable housing. They may opt to support one, many, all or none. In this case, Dukes supported another project and declined to issue support for the county's, Eckhardt said. Dukes' support would have provided eight points for the project.
"We’ve worked on this project for a really long time," she said. "What was brought home to us is we need to be much more politically astute. We had a great project by all accounts, but for the local support scoring, on the merits our project almost certainly would have gotten that 9 percent [tax credit]."
The planned co-located health and human services department building and affordable housing development on Airport Boulevard known as the North Campus development hit a snag Tuesday after it was announced in a Commissioners Court meeting that the project did not receive local support from state Rep. Dawnna Dukes to receive affordable housing development tax credits.[/caption]
Travis County missed out on roughly $7.8 million worth of affordable housing development tax credits, leaving staff and the Commissioners Court to ponder how they will make up the difference in funding for the planned affordable apartments on Airport Boulevard.
The project failed to gain local support from state Rep. Dawnna Dukes that would have helped the project rank higher.
The county planned to use funds through Texas's Housing Tax Credit Program to build 150 housing units on land known as the North Campus property spanning 5325-5335 Airport Blvd., Austin. In addition plans call for a 350-car parking garage and office space for the county's health and human services department.
Residents would have to meet certain low-income requirements to be able to live there. For some units, a four-person household would have to make no more than $46,680, or 60 percent of the area’s median annual household income, annually to qualify for residency, according to the presentation. About 90 percent of the units would have been "deeply affordable," County Judge Sarah Eckhardt said.
This rendering shows the planned residential units on Airport Boulevard.[/caption]
"We will be looking to make up that difference with other revenue sources os that we can maintain that kind of affordability," Eckhardt said.
Travis County commissioners in January voted to put their support behind the request for tax credits in connection with the affordable housing development. The resolution of support added two points to the scoring for the county’s application for tax credits.
Eckhardt said the scoring process allows state representatives to support projects seeking tax credits to build affordable housing. They may opt to support one, many, all or none. In this case, Dukes supported another project and declined to issue support for the county's, Eckhardt said. Dukes' support would have provided eight points for the project.
"We’ve worked on this project for a really long time," she said. "What was brought home to us is we need to be much more politically astute. We had a great project by all accounts, but for the local support scoring, on the merits our project almost certainly would have gotten that 9 percent [tax credit]."
