Houston Approves $18 Million to Build More Affordable Housing

Houston Mayor at grand opening of new affordable housingScreenshot from Twitter

The Coalition for the Homeless reported about 3,200 people could face homelessness in the Houston area. To help, Houston City Council approved funding for the NHP Foundation to build affordable housing. The City approved $18 million that will come from the Houston General Land Office.

Most of the Houston City Council approved the funding on Wednesday.

Vice Mayor pro tem Martha Castex-Tatum said:

"We were put in a quandary. I think what you saw (Wednesday) was council members who were supportive of housing for the homeless and council members who were against bad owners of apartment complexes."

She added:

"We sent a strong message not only to NHP but other developers in the city of Houston that it is imperative that they maintain their properties and make sure the residents in those properties are living in habitable and good conditions."

Councilwoman Letitia Plummer voted against the project and said:

"We can't always get pushed against the corner. NHP has just been a bad actor in general."

NHP Foundation has 52 properties in 15 states and Washington, D.C. that provide housing for 8,000 low and moderate-income residents. NHP also covers Clemen Manor which is also in Houston and already provides housing for 284 units.

Some residents also complained about the living situation at Clemen Manor.

“First of all, you have Clemen Manor as an apartment complex with people living over there, it’s not the dog pound unless they hadn’t checked their memo lately cause they’re treating them like a dog pound.”

Mayor Sylvester Turner said property owners have to make changes if funding were to continue.

“It’s an agreement with the city that the city can enforce.”

NHP responded in a statement:

"Houston is an important city to our organization and we look forward to being an even bigger part of this community to provide much-needed permanent supportive housing. We look forward to working with the city and county to ensure the safest highest quality housing is constructed."

Castux-Tatum said:

"They are required to provide quality housing for their residents. If that does not happen, the city of Houston has the ability to revoke their certificates of occupancies."

Read about another grant initiative in Houston here.

Do you think the NFP Foundation will correct its way as they open another affordable housing complex?