San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Project aims to aid homeless, former foster kids
A South Side housing project — just the third of its kind in San Antonio — is aiming to provide more than 200 apartments with services for chronically homeless people and youth who are aging out of the foster care system.
The $43 million development, called the Commons at Acequia Trails, would be financed with tax credits, funding from the city’s 2022 bond issue and money from Bexar County. And it would help the city meet its goal of producing 1,000 units of so-called permanent supportive housing by 2031.
Under a compromise plan now moving forward, San Antonio Metropolitan Ministries is buying 7 acres at South Presa Street and Old Corpus Christi Road from Brooks Development Authority for the project’s first phase of 201 studio and onebedroom apartments for homeless people.
The nonprofit, known as SAMMinistries, has an option to buy another 5 acres where 18 units for former foster children would be erected as part of a second phase.
A site plan shows courtyards between three-story apartment buildings, a one-story building for support services, a chapel and parking. It’s all next to another 43 acres that SAMMinistries also has the option to acquire.
“Our community has asked for solutions to address the issue of homelessness,” Nikisha Baker, president and CEO of SAMMinistries, told City Council this month. “The Commons at Acequia Trails, a permanent supportive housing development, is a permanent solution.”
Earlier this month, council members unanimously approved a rezoning request for the project after hearing opposition from neighbors, testimonials
from SAMMinistries clients and a change made by the nonprofit. On Tuesday, Bexar County commissioners also gave a green light to a funding request.
Neighbors’ concerns
As the case wound through the Zoning Commission, City Council and Commissioners Court over the past few months, some neighbors said they had not been told what was planned and were frustrated by the lack of information.
Representatives from Ortiz McKnight, the law firm representing Brooks, said they tried multiple times to contact neighborhood associations and hosted meetings to explain the project.
The residents also said the Commons at Acequia Trails would add to a growing concentration of subsidized housing in the area.
“Segregating those in need only further stigmatizes them and hinders their future potential,” Brady Alexander, president of the Hot Wells Mission Reach neighborhood association, told council members.
SAMMinistries initially
sought to rezone 55 acres but reduced its request to 12 acres after hearing such complaints and concerns from zoning commissioners worried about an oversaturation of subsidized housing and unknowns about development for the rest of the property.
Residents who participate in the nonprofit’s programs voiced their support for the project. A client who was a victim of domestic violence and another who has two children with disabilities said they are grateful for SAMMinistries’ help securing permanent housing and services.
“It’s changed my life forever,” the latter told zoning commissioners.
Another client, speaking through a sign language interpreter, said he struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder after being sexually assaulted. He couch-surfed and slept outside before finding Haven for Hope and later SAMMinistries, which helped him find an apartment and receive counseling. He also landed a job at H-E-B.
“Now I am managing my life well,” he told council members.
Official reaction
Council members praised the project and said combining permanent housing with services such as on-site case management and counseling is an important strategy in addressing homelessness.
Council Member Phyllis Viagran, whose district includes the site, said motels and other places already function as housing for homeless residents but without access to support services.
“We can’t wait any longer,” she said. “We are going to be addressing this issue. This is a problem we have on the South Side.”
Council Member Manny Pelaez said he would welcome such a complex in his North Side district.
“Every single time this comes before us, we always get neighbors who are very, very concerned that the character of their neighborhood is going to change, and they always come with the same kind of NIMBY-ist arguments, which is, ‘No, I’m not a hard-hearted person. I just don’t want these poor people near me because it’s bad for the poor people. They need to go somewhere else where it’s just better for them.’ We’ve heard that over and over again.”
“SAMMinistries, if ever you want to do a project like this in District 8, bring it,” he said.
On Tuesday, county commissioners also heard from a mix of supporters and neighbors frustrated by what they described as insufficient outreach.
After previously delaying a vote on providing $3.9 million for the project, Commissioner Tommy Calvert tried again to push back a vote to give Brooks, SAMMinistries and neighbors more time to discuss it. Calvert said he agreed with Alexander that the area needs more market-rate housing.
But his motion to further postpone a vote failed. After a lengthy discussion, commissioners gave the go-ahead to negotiate an agreement, in part because SAMMinistries said the funding had to be secured to meet other financing deadlines.
Calvert and Commissioner Grant Moody abstained, while County Judge Peter Sakai and Commissioners Justin Rodriguez and Rebeca Clay-Flores voted in favor.
Construction is expected to begin in November and conclude in late 2026.
The first permanent supportive housing community in San Antonio is Towne Twin Village, which began welcoming residents last spring. Being developed by the nonprofit Housing First Community Coalition, the 17-acre project will include more than 200 tiny homes, RV trailers and apartments.
Geared toward homeless people 50 and older with disabilities, Towne Twin Village offers meals, a food pantry, counseling, case management, medical, dental and mental health care clinics, and other services.
The other such community is Hudson Apartments near North Star Mall, a 60-unit complex with on-site services operated by SAMMinistries. The nonprofit bought it in 2021.