Affordable housing proposed
A parking lot near the Wheeler Station light-rail stop on the southern edge of Midtown would be redeveloped into affordable housing under a plan being considered to help create places for lower-income people to live in neighborhoods poised to rapidly develop.
Plans for a 327-unit “Light Rail Workforce Housing” complex at 4510 Main were presented to the City Council’s Housing and Community Affairs Committee on Tuesday. The project, including some ground-floor retail, would target renters who earn up to 120 percent of the local median
family income, currently $69,300.
“The goal is to preserve affordable housing before the gentrification wave,” said Jocklynn Keville, spokeswoman for the city’s Housing and Community Development Department. “These Inner Loop areas are becoming out of reach.”
The City Council later this year will consider allotting $3 million for the land acquisition and pre-development costs. If approved, developer Cant well-Anderson Cloudbreak Communities would build the project with city financing. The total cost of the project would be $54 million.
Transportation and urban planning experts applauded the plan as a way to address changes in Midtown.
The population there is roughly 9,245, up from 490 in 1990, the Midtown Redevelopment Authority reports. The median age is 32, and 58 percent of residents are between 25 and 55.
Property values have collective jumped 272 percent since 2000, to $1.5 bil- lion. Pricey apartments report high occupancy rates.
Still, a drive through much of the neighborhood reveals vacant lots, abandoned buildings and some poorly kept strip centers.
“Most people agree that there is a need for more options for affordable housing, whether from the city or private development,” said Kyle Shelton of the Kinder Institute at Rice University.
He said making neighborhoods open to people at a range of income levels and having a mix of transportation options are im- portant to their success. Lower-income workers particularly need access to transit.
The proposed Main Street complex is ideal for that reason, said James Llamas, a traffic consultant who worked on the Metropolitan Transit Agency’s recent bus route revamp. Having a car could raise a Houstonian’s transportation costs to $8,000 a year, difficult for some.
Plans are preliminary. Units will be studios and one- bedrooms. Twothirds of them would be set aside for people who make no more than 80 percent of the area’s median income. But the 120 percent upperincome limit would allow some young professionals to live in the Midtown area, Housing and Community Development director Neal Rackleff said.
“It’s important that we have not just older wealthy people in downtown. We will have people starting their careers as well,” he said.