Methodology

Houston regularly taps its local affordable housing fund to help finance lowincome housing programs, but even city officials didn’t know what that money produced in recent years.

Last July, the Chronicle began requesting information on how the housing department spent its money over the last decade. The department provided a check register of payments but could not tie those expenditures to specific projects or account for how many people it had helped with its local funds.

To fill in that information, the Chronicle reviewed City Council meeting agendas, ordinances and contracts to build a 13-year database of planned projects. Reporters then requested how much money the city spent against each of those appropriations, as well as information such as the number of housing units produced and the rules governing their use. City officials over the last four months provided spending records for 10 of those 13 years, saying they could not accurately track expenses prior to fiscal 2007, when the city installed its current accounting software.

These records generally included the total amount spent under each appropriation but not who received payment. In some cases, housing staff could identify how many homes had been built or repaired, but they often could not, explaining that the city did not consistently track results.

Therefore, the Chronicle relied on data from a combination of sources — including project plans, contracts and expense documents — to estimate production. The Chronicle categorized those units as follows: • New affordable housing: Units were put under price or income restrictions due to city subsidies, not counting homes that were repaired, demolished or otherwise maintained. • Still-affordable housing: Those newly affordable housing units that remain under income, price or sale restrictions.