Tomball City Council hit pause Feb. 2 on a resolution that would support an application for competitive 9% housing tax credits tied to a proposed 55-plus senior community near Hwy. 249, deferring the item to its next meeting Feb. 16.
What we know
The resolution would back an application from RBM Living and Meridiem Development Group—through the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs—for a mixed-income senior multifamily project anticipated to be called “The Enclave at Tomball Square,” planned near the northwest corner of Medical Complex Drive and the Hwy. 249 southbound access road.
Developer representative Matthew Malmquist told council the proposal targets residents age 55 and older and is driven by what he described as an unmet need for senior housing in the area.
Malmquist said the development would include features such as telehealth and physical training spaces.
During the discussion, council members pressed Malmquist on affordability and who the housing would serve. Council member John Ford said the community needs all types of housing options.
“I believe we need all spectrum of housing in a community to support folks, people that are trying to live on social security or having a hard time and need all the help they can get,” Ford said.
Mayor Lori Klein Quinn and council member Dane Dunagin shared uneasiness with placing a tax-credit development on what Quinn described as a key gateway into town.
“That is our main entrance into the city of Tomball. That is our main corridor there,” Quinn said.
She also pointed to the city’s size and existing concentration of tax-credit housing, noting Tomball is “only ... 14 square miles” and already has “twice the number per capita” of housing tax-credit developments.
State Rep. Tom Oliverson submitted a letter opposing the 2026 competitive 9% housing tax credit application for the proposed “Enclave at Tomball Square” senior apartment project, telling city officials his office had received “significant opposition from constituents” and that he does not support allocating the credits through the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs for the development.
The council is expected to vote on this item at its next meeting Feb. 16.
“This isn’t a nursing home—this [is] independent senior living,” Malmquist said.
If ultimately approved, the resolution would also document a required acknowledgment that Tomball has more than twice the state average of housing tax credit-supported units per capita, and it would explicitly allow the project within 1 mile of a previously funded senior development.
The city would further commit to an in-kind contribution—such as a reduced fee or fee waiver—of at least $500, contingent on the project receiving an award of 2026 9% housing tax credits, according to the agenda packet.
