WilCo prioritizes affordable housing

We obviously have to have more affordable housing, said Nikki Brennan, executive director of the Georgetown Housing Authority. I think [the need is] pretty much all over Williamson County.

In Williamson County more than 500 people are on the public housing waiting list, and more than 600 are waiting to receive assistance through the housing choice voucher program.

The prioritization of affordable housing means CDBG funds will go to efforts that expand the supply and improve the condition of affordable and lower-income housing as well as the activities that leverage public and private resources.

Williamson County Commissioner Valerie Covey said the grant money would be used to help Habitat for Humanity of Williamson County purchase land in Georgetown for future homesites. There are 39 Habitat homes in Georgetown.

[Habitat is] in the process of looking at different areas to continue what they do, and I really support them a lot because its sweat equity and it gets properties that are just sitting theresome of which need to be cleaned upback on the tax roll, Covey said. I think its a great opportunity.

On June 24 the commissioners voted to reallocate $100,000 of CDBG funding for city of Georgetown projects to Habitat. The money had been set aside for Georgetown sidewalk construction; however, Covey said after meeting with city officials that the remaining sidewalk funding would be enough.

I visited with city of Georgetown and $160,000 covered their No. 1 priority, [which is sidewalk construction], and it also allows Habitat to continue in their process because they would be stopped somewhere next spring if they didnt have any funding at all, Covey said.

Covey said she felt it was important for Habitat to have access to the money in the case land does come available.

Habitat is building homes throughout Williamson County and is in the process of acquiring land in Georgetown, said Debbie Hoffman, Habitat for Humanity of Williamson County executive director.

We finished building on our last lot in Round Rock on June 8, Hoffman said. The family purchased the home from us at zero percent interest on June 11.

The organization has a handful of anticipated projects that would continue into early 2015. The next house scheduled to be built is in Jarrell, and construction is set to begin July 12, Hoffman said.

From there we will be building in Leander and Taylor over the next 12 months, she said. In addition to the new construction homes mentioned, we are completing repairs on homes owned by families whose income is at 50 percent or below the median income for Williamson County.

Affordable housing

Affordable housing is defined as costing lower-income residents no more than 30 percent of a households income for sheltereither to rent or pay for the mortgage, taxes and homeowners insurance on a home, Brennan said.

Each year a fair market rent, or FMR, is published by HUD to establish the average rent, she said.

In Georgetown the FMR for a one-bedroom apartment is $853, which means the household must earn an hourly income of $16.41, Brennan said.

Our backbone of the community as far as retail workers, construction workers and even teachers are not making this kind of money, she said.

Brennan said the city projects more than 3,000 units will be needed to sufficiently address the rental housing needs for households with incomes at or below 80 percent of the areas median income. However, between 2014 and 2017 only 180 affordable housing units are expected to be available, Brennan said.

Georgetown operates the largest of the four area public housing authorities with 158 public housing units at the citys only public housing property, Stonehaven Apartments. The city also offers 100 tenant-based housing choice vouchers, or Section 8the federal governments program for assisting low-income families, the elderly and the disabled.

The city of Georgetown is also taking other strides toward fulfilling the need, Brennan said. The housing element of the citys 2030 Comprehensive Plan, which is maintained by the citys Housing Advisory Board, calls for developing a program to offer housing developers incentives to provide new affordable units.

The city understand that they need housing alternatives, she said. Well just have to see whats approved as far as developers.