After hours of heated debate and two commissioners abstaining, Bexar County Commissioners Court on Tuesday approved a nearly $4 million allocation that will allow an apartment complex to be built in the South Side to house people experiencing homelessness.
It’s been a long journey of administrative delays and funding holdups for the roughly $43 million project and its nonprofit steward, SAMMinistries The vote highlighted the challenges and heightened scrutiny that subsidized housing of this kind, called permanent supportive housing, often faces countrywide.
It was standing room only in the court chambers as people in support of the project, wearing T-shirts that read “permanent supportive housing is a permanent solution,” applauded the vote.
“This is an incredible win for our community,” Nikisha Baker, president and CEO of SAMMinistries, told reporters after the vote. “We’ve said it time and again, but this development will allow us to house [and provide] supportive services to 200 individuals experiencing homelessness in our community. These are life-saving measures.”
The county had set aside a portion of its federal coronavirus relief funds for the project, called The Commons at Acequia Trails, last year but Commissioner Tommy Calvert (Pct. 4) delayed a December vote on the funding allocation, citing concern that area residents said they weren’t properly notified of the project.
Calvert and Commissioner Grant Moody (Pct. 3) declined to vote on Tuesday. Calvert said he wanted to delay the vote by two weeks until further community input could be heard. Moody said he wanted more clarity on the technical financial terms of the county’s contribution. Still, the measure passed, 3-0, with the two abstentions.
Typically, members of the court give deference to whoever represents the area in which a project is proposed. But Acequia Trails, while technically in Precinct 4, is also near Precinct 1.
“The first several years of my childhood, my family and I were unhoused,” Rebeca Clay-Flores (Pct.1) said. “I would be a hypocrite to not vote for this. … Precinct 1 no longer accepts Band-Aids. And this is not a Band Aid.”
Calvert said he supported the project, but could not stand by the process.
“I’m sorry that many voices were not heard in the process,” he said, referring to a meeting he had hoped to schedule between Brooks Development Authority, which owns the vacant land, and nearby neighborhood associations. “I think we could have done better, but the powers that be are at work.”
Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai, who placed the item on Tuesday’s agenda, needled county and city staff about the urgency behind the county’s funding.
“Is there a time deadline in order for the county [and] the city to get this thing done?” Sakai asked.
City and county staff responded that a delay would put the project’s funding from other sources, including the city and state tax credits, at risk, potentially causing the project to take years longer to be built and adding potentially prohibitive costs.
“Everything is coming together with a timeline that was already agreed upon with the city, which would require the county funding to be approved this month,” said Ian Benavidez, deputy director of the city’s Neighborhood and Housing Services Department.
Calvert said he remained unconvinced that a vote was required on Tuesday and warned that the way the city and county handled community outreach in this case could make community members less likely to support these projects down the road.
“I think it’s important as we do permanent supportive housing that [we not have] a whisper campaign amongst the neighborhood associations that [says]: If we vote for that in the bond, they’ll just run right over us,” he said.
Now that Bexar County has allocated its funding, the county will work with SAMMinistries and outside attorneys to negotiate the final details regarding the terms of investment, county staff said.
That agreement requires only Sakai’s signature to be finalized. The county judge called for another briefing on the financial terms during the court’s next meeting on March 26.
“Honestly, nobody wants this kind of project in their backyard,” he said. “But what I do expect is, if we’re going to do it, we [do] it with dignity and respect.”
Funding Acequia Trails
The county’s vote comes five days after San Antonio City Council unanimously approved a zoning change for the land. The city has invested $11 million toward Acequia Trails, and last week Mayor Ron Nirenberg urged county commissioners to approve their share.
While SAMMinistries scaled back its zoning request, the nonprofit still plans to develop the remaining 43 acres from Brooks Development Authority to build out additional services and facilities, which may include more housing, a public park or employment opportunities for residents.
The most heated exchange at Tuesday’s meeting occurred between Calvert and Brooks President and CEO Leo Gomez, who disputed Calvert’s characterization of a previous conversation between them regarding what will be built on that acreage.
“I left that meeting feeling that we had an agreement for one-third” of that land to become market-rate housing, Calvert said, before asking Gomez to speak at the dais.
“I was very clear and said I could not support one-third,” Gomez interrupted. “I was very clear. … I’m not concerned about more market rate, doing the right mix [of various income housing] is what matters.”
Ultimately, Calvert apologized for misremembering their conversation, and Gomez apologized for his “impassioned response.” They agreed to host a community meeting or “summit” in the future to discuss the housing plan for Brooks’ campus and the surrounding area.
Acequia Trails would be the third single-site permanent supportive housing project in San Antonio. This homelessness mitigation approach combines services like meals, addiction recovery and other counseling with housing for people who are chronically homeless and have a disabling physical or mental condition.
In recent years, several recent permanent supportive housing projects were scrapped largely due to neighborhood opposition. While the Towne Twin Village on the East Side avoided so-called “not-in-my-backyard” pushback, SAMMinistries’ Hudson Apartments faced early concerns.
But the resistance to this project isn’t born of NIMBYism, said Virginia Rutledge, who lives near the vacant lot slated to become Acequia Trails and is a member of the Old River Heritage Group. Rutledge, like Calvert, said she supports the project, but not the process.
“You should know that there are many people across your county… who are feeling very weary and deeply discouraged and cynical about what is perceived as a real lack of a protocol, a process for community engagement,” she said during the meeting.
“Demonizing” residents by accusing them of NIMBYism, Rutledge said, “discredits what it takes to be an engaged citizen — to have to stand up and speak and to say that we really are owed this information about what’s happening.”
Baker acknowledged to the court that the nonprofit could have started neighborhood outreach earlier, but emails about the project were sent to neighborhood groups as early as November.
“Maybe it was late, [but] we’re now four months from the initial attempts to engage the neighborhood,” Baker said, citing several in-person meetings and tours offered to residents. She’s not convinced that a longer timeline for neighborhood engagement would have garnered support for the project or changed residents’ minds about the need for it in their neighborhood.
“We have demonstrated to the City of Castle Hills and the surrounding neighbors to our Hudson apartments and our Transitional Living and Learning Center, that we mean well — not just for our residents, for the community as a whole,” Baker said, committing to set up direct lines of communication — including a resident council — for neighbors who continue to have concerns and want to engage in solutions.
Correction: This story has been updated to state that the project is in Precinct 4.
Disclosure: Leo Gomez sits on the San Antonio Report Board of Directors.
