Georgetown Housing Advisory Board study showed gaps in residential options, possible deficit by 2018
After more than two years since the last proposed affordable housing complex lost funding, the Texas Housing Foundation, a regional public housing authority, is moving forward with plans to build an income-restricted multifamily residential complex in Georgetown.
In March, the planning and zoning commission and City Council are expected to consider rezoning the Gateway Northwest Apartments' site, which will be located off of Northwest Boulevard and Washam Drive.
"From the citizenry standpoint, it will be 180 new units of quality, affordable housing to meet the ever-growing demand for quality housing within a very affluent area—and I don't mean affluent in the number of dollars, but affluent in a sense of growth potential," Texas Housing Foundation CEO Mark Mayfield said.
Other affordable housing complexes, including a rehabilitation project for San Gabriel Apartments, as well as a proposed senior living complex and another income-restricted development, are also expected to come before City Council in February seeking resolutions of support.
Demand
Georgetown's growth has added to the demand for affordable, multifamily living spaces, Georgetown Housing Coordinator Jennifer Bills said.
"We've gone from being Georgetown small town to Georgetown with major shopping centers and employment centers," she said. "You have a real mix of incomes when you do that."
A 2008 housing study by the Georgetown Housing Advisory Board, which is being updated and is expected to go to City Council in April, found that the city could have a deficit of about 1,300 affordable multifamily units by 2018.
"Going forward from now, there will be a deficit," Bills said. "None of the assumptions have changed much in the last three years."
The study looked at who was living in Georgetown and how much rent they were paying and compared it to the trends of who was moving into Georgetown and what was being developed. What was identified was a need for a range of multifamily housing options on an affordable level, Bills said.
"Originally, when we started the housing plan, we thought there was a need for more single-family development," Bills said. "But it was actually the multifamily market that was going to have a shortfall."
Bills said the study qualified affordable housing as units set up for income levels at 80 percent or below the Area Median Family Income.
"The problem with most market-rate apartments is there is nothing to keep them from becoming unaffordable to people," she said.
Bills said that if a city was going to incentivize development, it may place an income restriction to meet the specific needs of the community.
"Otherwise when the market changes [rents can increase]," she said. "Right now, rents are going up pretty quickly with the rental market the way it is, and people are seeing 8 percent or 9 percent increases in their rental rates. With income-restricted units, there is a limit to how much you can raise the rents because they are set aside as affordable units."
In Williamson County, the AMFI is $75,900 for a family of four. At 80 percent of the AMFI, the household can earn up to $60,700 a year, while a single person could earn up to $42,500 a year and still qualify.
Marcy Urban, a Georgetown real estate broker and owner of Urban Homes and Land, said the city needs more options for individuals of all income levels, including service industry employees, public service employees and teachers.
"We need to build Georgetown into a well-balanced community," Urban said. "We're at a tipping point in Georgetown right now. We're talking about adding all these jobs, but people who work these lower-level jobs are not going to be buying $400,000 homes out at The Woods or million-dollar homes out at Cimarron Hills. They need affordable places they can live in that are safe."
Bills said depending on the economy and job sources, the availability of affordable housing can play a big part in the workforce of a community.
"It takes all different income levels for the economy to thrive, and you are better off having a local employment base. If you have a local employment base, then future employers are more likely to site here," Bills said. "The service and retail industries—if you don't have people who can live in town, there is not a lot of desire to drive 20 miles to work a minimum-wage job."
Gateway Northwest
The Texas Housing Foundation, with the help of multifamily private activity bonds and noncompetitive housing tax credits awarded by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, will fund the Gateway Northwest Apartments development, Mayfield said. Incomes will be restricted at 60 percent of AMFI.
"What that tells you is basically [Gateway Northwest Apartments] is just for the workforce within that area," Mayfield said. "I don't like people to get bogged down on the affordable title. They tend to think, 'Well that's public-type housing.' This is not public housing."
About 98.5 percent of the units available would be income-restricted, with about 1.5 percent available at market rate, he said.
Once financing is approved, Mayfield said he hopes to break ground on the project in September and begin leasing units in spring 2013.
"Georgetown has so much potential, as evidenced by the desire for real estate growth and retail growth and all the other growth that goes along with the community. It is just a very bustling community," Mayfield said. "This would just provide for the needs of the influx of individuals coming to that community and those that are there now."
