San Antonio scraps plan to house homeless
City planned to convert motel into housing with support services but dropped the project after neighbors raised concerns
City officials have scrapped plans to buy and convert a motel into housing for people looking to escape homelessness after neighbors — worried about crime and questioning why their part of town should be the site for such a facility — sided against the project.
Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, whose district includes the Skyline Park neighborhood near the Garden Inn at 211 N. WW White Road, said he asked city staff to drop the project.
“It’s heartbreaking because these are the kinds of things I talked about on the campaign trail — these are the kind of projects we need,” McKee-Rodriguez said.
Plans for the motel included housing with on-site support services, such as mental health and substance abuse treatment, for people who have experienced long-term homelessness. It would have differed from emergency shelters, allowing tenants to sign a lease and pay rent at 30 percent of any income they earn.
The city held three public meetings in the area and the message from residents was clear.
Neighbors said the city too often uses the East Side as a testing ground for projects they said wouldn’t be considered for the more affluent North Side, said Rose Hill. Hill doesn’t live in Skyline Park, but she leads the District 2 Presidents Roundtable, a group of East Side neighborhood association presidents.
“The community was very vocal and very opinionated,” Hill said. “But it was made loud and clear they did not want it there. It’s too close to the neighborhoods.”
Nearby business owners also were worried. Janie Agis owns Radicke’s Bluebonnet Grill just north of the Garden Inn, and she said she’s had problems with homeless people in the area vandalizing her building and scaring customers.
She’s not opposed to helping people who experience homelessness. But she questioned the need for such housing on the East Side when a similar project, called Towne Twin Village, is already in the works a mile away.
Every part of San Antonio has a homeless population, Agis said. “All over the city, we need some kind of homes for the homeless — not just on one side of the city,” she said.
Neighbors’ reaction to the Garden Inn plan could signal trouble for the city as it prepares a spate of projects to combat homelessness.
McKee-Rodriguez said he’s concerned about a pattern in what he hears from his constituents.
“One thing I heard was consistent: District 2 and the East Side are never the place given a first chance at innovative things like Port San Antonio or even movie theaters and bowling alleys. We don’t get those things,” McKee-Rodriguez said. “But when the city wants to try out a solution to homelessness, it’s ‘Lets try it in District 2.’”
City staff previously said they chose the Garden Inn for its proximity to bus lines, grocery stores and pharmacies. The building also is in good condition, which would have made renovations easier.
McKee-Rodriguez said he’s open to similar housing plans elsewhere in District 2. But he added that city officials and his office would have to make the case for them to residents. .
“You have to be ready with a communication plan, a public input plan,” he said.
The Garden Inn project would have been the city’s first go at developing housing with access to support services for people exiting homelessness.
A nonprofit developer is already doing it at Towne Twin Village, which will be the first of its kind in San Antonio, and neighbors appear to support it.
The project includes about 200 residential units, a mix of tiny homes, apartments and mobile homes, said Edward Gonzales, executive director of Housing First Community Coalition.
“We know there is a critical need for this type of housing in San Antonio,” Gonzales said.
The first 60 units are under construction and should be ready for move-in by late October or early November. A transportation pavilion, multipurpose buildings and a laundry facility also will be built in phase one. Gonzales expects the entire project to be complete next year.
Residents will have on-site access to psychiatrists and counselors, dental services, medical providers, meals and showers. A handful of case workers will live at Towne Twin Village, and it will employ fulltime security personnel.
Developing affordable housing or housing with support services is difficult because of the stigma attached to such projects, Gonzales said. When his organization went public with its Towne Twin Village plans, neighborhood leaders expressed some of the same concerns he’s heard about the Garden Inn project.
He said Housing First worked hard to talk with residents, show them site plans and answer their questions. The result was increased community support.
“Everybody has a right to housing,” Gonzales said.
“We have to do it right so we can demonstrate that this works, and that it can work in a way that doesn’t disrupt a neighborhood and doesn’t cause all those negative effects that everybody is worried about.”