San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
S.A. Housing Trust director leading troubled nonprofit in new direction
In the months before and after Pete Alanis became executive director of the San Antonio Housing Trust, the citycreated nonprofit was reeling from criticism from the media, the public and city leaders, including Mayor Ron Nirenberg.
For years, one of the nonprofit’s arms, the San Antonio Housing Trust Public Facility Corp., or PFC, partnered with developers to build apartment complexes that received full property tax exemptions while offering few units that met common standards of affordability.
Alanis set out to restore faith in the nonprofit — which the San Antonio City Council created in 1988 with a mission to promote affordable housing — by offering more transparency and targeting greater affordability in its developments.
Born in San Antonio, Alanis said his parents “sacrificed quite a bit” to send him to Antonian College Preparatory High School. He earned a degree in business administration from Texas State University with plans to work in hotel management, but after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks put the industry in a crisis, he took a job as a community development analyst with the city of San Antonio.
He rose through the ranks at the city, becoming a real estate administrator in its Center City Development Office, where he worked on public-private projects such as the redevelopment of the Red Berry estate on the East Side.
At the housing trust, Alanis has introduced a new model of building an apartment complex in which the PFC owns the complex rather than partnering with a developer — in essence, taking private equity out of the equation. The PFC will then reinvest the profits into the project, giving itself the financial leeway to offer more affordable rents. The Lofts at Creekview complex, soon to break ground on the East Side, marks the first use of the model.
Along with its PFC projects, the housing trust funds affordable housing by issuing bonds and through federal tax-credit programs. It recently
launched the Sustainable and Universal Design Committee to establish design guidelines for making apartment complexes more accessible to older adults and people with disabilities.
Alanis recently sat to discuss his career with the city, the changes he’s made at the housing trust and the challenge of rising construction costs. The following has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Q: You took this job at a time when the housing trust was under a lot of scrutiny. What was that like?
A:
There was an immense amount of pressure. Yes, there
was a lot of criticism of the housing trust, the PFC. But a lot of it was, where is the criticism focused? Understanding the nuances of why was important. Then you get into the issues of gentrification and forced displacement.
So yes, we had some projects that still may have had a private equity partnership associated with them, but it was all to learn how to make this transition, to get away from doing structures like that. And we succeeded with our first one, our Lofts at Creekview project.
Q: Were those changes driven by community input
or the housing trust’s board?
A: It all starts with the community input. Obviously, there are challenges. Right now, there’s a huge supply and demand imbalance. And yes, that is at all income levels, even though some people don’t want to hear that. But obviously, the biggest impact is at your lower income levels. Our focus is to achieve those lower levels to the greatest extent we can, but with rising construction costs, rising interest costs, all those inflationary pressures are making things extremely difficult. We’ve had three projects that we were hoping to close financing on, that didn’t move through, or at least didn’t move through now. That’s Cattleman Square, Patriot’s Pointe and Aspire at Vida.
Q: Are there projects that will never work because of those problems?
A:
I wouldn’t say never. With tax credit financing, it’s always an issue of timing, because once you get a reservation of bonds, you have 180 days to close. That’s the rule. If you don’t close those bonds, you lose those bonds and you have no project.
You know, we’re having issues with projects that are falling off their land use restriction after 35 years, and converting to (market-rate).
It’s happening all over the country; it’s a big issue. People are figuring out how to retain those tax credit units long term. Well, we’ve done the opposite (with the Lofts at Creekview model). As tax credit developments lose affordability after 35 years, what are we doing? After 15 years,
“Yes, there was a lot of criticism of the housing trust, the PFC. But a lot of it was, where is the criticism focused?”
Pete Alanis
let’s say, we’re gaining affordability over the long term using the equity we built.
Q: Do you consider the PFC deals that were done before you came on board to have been a mistake?
A: You know, at the time, the policy direction was economic development, right? From an economic development standpoint, those projects were supported in order to revitalize St. Paul Square and things like that. But that mission and that priority has changed.
Q: What changes have you made changes with regard to transparency?
A: Obviously, making sure that I’m responsive to all media requests, to public information requests, things like that. But more importantly, I think the public needs to better know what it is that we do. Of course, redesigning our website so we can provide that information of the projects that we’re actually affiliated with. How many units are there? Basic information like that, that you would think it’s like, “Duh.” We put out two videos, so if anybody wants to understand more about what the housing trust does, we have videos on YouTube.
Q: When you took your first job with the city, did you take to the work immediately?
A: No, not at all (he laughs). I tell everybody who I work with that you don’t go to school to become an affordable housing expert. In order to really understand what it takes to do true community development work, you have to go into that field.
Q: What did you learn working for the city?
A: How much city employees actually do care. That’s something that gets missed by the community quite often — that we are members of this community. We have families
that are impacted by the decisions that are made.
I’m going to pivot over to the Sustainability and Universal Design Committee. You know, we’re trying to improve the apartment complexes that we build, making sure that they are designed appropriately for an aging population — for all my tias and tios and cousins and their friends and their families. They’re all getting older.
Q: What could you do to achieve that?
A: So there’s a difference between accessibility, visitability and universal design. Accessibility are local requirements that are put in place. There’s a lack of accessible units that are currently available in the market for the one in seven persons that have disabilities in San Antonio.
At the same time, there’s
visitability, which means, can you go and visit with someone? Maybe your house is not designed to be accessible, but at the very least, there’s a nobarrier entry door, and the ability for that person who may be in a walker or wheelchair to be able to go into the home, visit, get to a restroom.
Q: What do you mean by “universal design”?
A: Universal design is designing your space to be as functional for as many people as possible, regardless of their ability. Very subtle differences in how you design something can make the world of difference. Universal design doesn’t mean it has to look like an institution. You can design something and it looks completely like you would think a normal property would look like, except it has specific elements that make it easier for
the general population. Imagine lifting up your (electrical) sockets to a little bit higher level, so you’re not having to bend down. Imagine having a sink where a wheelchair can go underneath and you can wash dishes.
Q: What was it like working for the Center City Development Office?
A: It was my job to figure out how to actually get (development projects) delivered, and that was a challenge. Where do we find the funding for it? How to work with the development community to achieve that?
It was something that was enlightening. You saw what a lot of folks consider the other side of the house. A lot of people don’t get both perspectives. I think that’s really helped me out in this position. I’m able not only to see what the community’s needs are, but I’ve also been able to see the development side of it, what it actually takes to get something off the ground. It’s easy to say, “Let’s get something done.” But how do you actually go about doing it? What are all those different barriers?
Q: Did you seek out your current position, or did they recruit you?
A:
The opportunity came, and I said, “You know what, I’m ready to switch beats.” I’ve learned what I need to learn over at CCDO and the development process. I’ve already understood how to do community development, working 13 years doing that. I need to do something that is going to put the two together.
Q: With the Lofts at Creekview model, will you be doing fewer projects than before?
A:
Not necessarily. You know, looking to how we can do permanent supportive housing, that’s one big factor.
Q: Beds for homeless, right?
A: Correct. Specifically designed to provide a housingfirst option for persons experiencing homelessness. Towne Twin Village is the first example of something that is permanent supportive housing — so not just housing, but the substantial supportive services required to come into that unit. They can stay there as long as they want to. I think you’ll see in the future us continuing to look at ways to achieve our goal of 1,000 permanent supportive housing units in San Antonio.
Q: Do you plan on staying in this role for a long time?
A:
As long as they’ll have me. I want to stay as long as I’m effective. I hope I’m here for a long time. I really do. I mean, I love St. Antonio. I love what I’ve learned. I love the direction that we’re going in. I really want to stay.