Georgetown City Council unanimously approved changes Tuesday to the way it considers affordable housing projects seeking resolutions of support to apply for housing tax credits from the state. Georgetown Housing Coordinator Jennifer Bills presented the proposed process changes to City Council at its Sept. 13 workshop. In May, council directed the city’s Housing Advisory Board to pursue revising the city’s tax credit housing approval process as well as updating the housing element of the city’s comprehensive plan and a feasibility study of housing tools, Bills said. “We’re working on the revision to the housing tax credit process first so we can have these improvements in place for the next cycle, which starts in December. Council seemed to be eager that we have some improvements to this process,” Bills said at the Sept. 13 workshop.

1. The process applies to developers seeking housing tax credits from the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs.

Each year the TDHCA awards tax credits to affordable housing developers through a 9 percent competitive process and also a 4 percent noncompetitive process, Bills said. As part of the application process, the city reviews both types of applications and can approve a resolution of support, deny support, or approve a vote of no objection. Bills said the council wanted to establish rules to outline developers' responsibilities when seeking consent from the council to apply for housing tax credits from the state. Earlier this year the council considered resolutions of support for five affordable housing developments and approved three of them.

2. The changes set application deadlines.

Bills said setting a deadline for applications will help give city staff, the council and the public more time to understand the proposed affordable housing developments prior to the applications going before City Council for approval. The city’s previous process included no set deadlines, which resulted in applications being considered at multiple different City Council meetings, Bills said. According to the approved changes, developers pursuing the 9 percent competitive process will be required to submit applications by the first Tuesday in January, and those seeking 4 percent noncompetitive housing tax credits must submit applications six weeks before the HAB’s meeting. In 2017, 9 percent competitive housing tax credit applications are due to the state by March 1.

3. Affordable housing developers will be required to host a public meeting before their project is considered by City Council.

The new process requires developers to notify residents within half a mile of the proposed site and host at least two public meetings prior to being considered by City Council, Bills said. One of those meetings must be held a minimum of three weeks before the council meeting. Council Member Steve Fought said he would prefer developers host two public outreach meetings. Bills said developers will be required to notify the city of all public meetings. The requirements only apply to developers seeking to build new affordable housing projects.

4. The city will consider future land use plans and zoning as part of the new process.

Developers applying for the 9 percent competitive housing tax credits must submit a rezoning request. Properties must have been analyzed by city staff or have the correct zoning already in place prior to submitting requests for City Council support. Developers applying for 4 percent noncompetitive credits must have their sites zoned for multifamily before submitting the tax credit request, Bills said.

5. City staff will present the city’s affordable housing ratio before council decides on an application.

Based on feedback from City Council, the new process also includes a presentation of the city’s current affordable housing units as well how the city compares to other cities of similar size in Texas. City staff will also provided information to City Council about how the proposed affordable housing units would affect the housing ratio. “When these proposals come through ... [city] staff ought to tell us how that ratio is affected by our decision,” Council Member Steve Fought said at the Sept. 13 workshop.