With all the excitement over the naming of the park (not to mention our soggy Monday), some news from the weekend didn’t get much attention. As KTRK-13 reported, your city just committed $2-3 million to subsidize housing for a certain neighborhood:
There will be more affordable housing for those who need it. That’s the goal of the city of Houston.
Mayor Bill White announced Sunday the city will give $3 million to The Metropolitan Organization to build 60 single family homes and buy land in the near north side. Property values in that area have increased 26% in the past year. The homes will be targeted at people making $25,000 to $30,000 per year.
“Somebody in the middle class can buy a house in the city limits and doesn’t have to move away and fight all that freeway traffic on the way to work,” said Mayor White.
Mayor White also says the city plans on providing the same affordable housing plan in other neighborhoods.
The Chronicle‘s resident lefty plagiarist, Rick Casey, likes the move:
[Mayor White] also said citizens shouldn’t look at the program as welfare.
“This is a high return on public investment,” he said. “These will be taxpaying properties here in the city limits. And with more families moving in, they’ll be safer neighborhoods. Our hope for maintaining property tax discipline is to encourage developments in these neighborhoods.”
It makes sense.
Sure. Tossing millions to subsidize housing in certain neighborhoods makes great sense at a time when the city’s leaders refuse to budget adequately for basic municipal services like policing (HPD’s manpower shortage and associated surge in violent crime, anyone?) or flood control (as many parts of town experienced Monday).
It is useful to keep in mind Mayor White’s spending priorities, especially as he’s urging passage of various November propositions on revenues/spending.
