Nonprofits and the city of San Antonio are forced to stretch their budget as the price of homes and building materials rise, presenting a challenge in creating affordable housing for low-income communities.
San Antonio’s Neighborhood and Housing Services Department provides affordable housing programs for the community through grants to develop or rehab affordable homes. In some instances, the department also helps first-time homeowners who qualify get down payment assistance. But the rising cost of home prices and materials means fewer citizens get help.
Delivering affordable housing programs on a budget
Eighty percent of Veronica Soto’s job is to deliver affordable housing programs on a budget as the director of Neighborhood and Housing Services. She said the city has to change its policy of giving to increase the amounts. Those kinds of decisions take time and city council approval, but they’re necessary if they want the affordable programs to be effective.
Unfortunately, inflation has taken a toll, making her job even harder.
“The same amount of money we gave out last year is not going to yield the same number of units,” Soto said.
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