Affordable housing has become a major regional concern as housing costs rise across North Texas, according to the Sept. 19 agenda item. About 40% of households in Lewisville that rented in 2018 were either cost burdened or severely cost burdened.
The council directed staff to explore how to better leverage the Lewisville Housing Finance Corp. and other tools to create and preserve affordable housing after its 2019 annual retreat. City officials went on to hire a consultant to conduct a housing study to help identify gaps in Lewisville's housing stock.
Council revisited the discussion during its annual retreat earlier this year. City staff presented data showing rents increased by 18% between 2020-21.
The city’s consultant presented tools the city could utilize to support affordable and workforce housing, including the public facility corporation. The Lewisville Public Facility Corp. will be a nonprofit corporation sponsored by the city that will finance, refinance or provide the costs of public facilities for the city.
The corporation will be able to issue bonds, finance public facilities on behalf of its sponsor or loan the proceeds of the obligations to other entities to accomplish the purposes of the sponsor, according to the agenda item.
The corporation will allow the city to facilitate workforce and affordable housing development and redevelopment in accordance with the city’s 2025 Plan and the Sustainability Action Plan, according to the agenda item.
City staff anticipate the professional service agreement to be brought to the council Oct. 17. If approved, work can begin Oct. 18. The tentative timeline for the plan will be data collection and analysis by December and the toolkit and actions by March, according to the agenda item.
