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Affordable Housing Apartments Planned In E. Magnolia/Westwood


Muralpainter

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I heard about this recently, I breifly heard from residents in this area that (I think) they will petition to stop this as they feel low income residences will bring undesireable people to the area... I'm scetchy on the details, so I don't want to present rumor as fact. We will see how this plays out.

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Additional information received on a newsletter:

PROPOSED LOW INCOME MULTI-FAMILY HOUSING PROJECT: Project proposed for the north side of FM 1488 west of the La Quinta hotel and across from the Westwood subdivision. The proposed project is a Federal housing project administered through the TX Dept. of Housing & Community Affairs (www.tdhca@state.tx.us). The project contact person in Austin is Nicole Fisher at 512-475-2201 or email: nicole.fisher@tdhca.state.tx.us .

Income levels for applicants to such Federally mandated projects range from $18,000 to $46,000 depending on the number of persons in the household. Neighborhoods and areas targeted for such projects are generally identified by demographic data derived from US Census blocks.

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Oh, this is truly rich; just googled on the location. I know quite a large number of people who sold out of Spring to move to Magnolia to escape the crime/blight and wrecked school system problem that's been built into Spring over the last 10 years and now.........................this! Have to believe they'll be building up in Brenham next.

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I’m not going to comment on the subsidized housing bringing in undesirable families.

What I have a problem with is government intervention into the local housing market. These apartments will undercut the lease prices on local rental units and drive down the market. Then the rent value goes down, the resale value to investors respectively goes down. This has the effect of lowering the market value of all homes in the surrounding area.

I understand the government selected the location for subsidized housing with the consideration many of the tenants will not own a car. They will evaluate the walking distance to shopping and employment. This location does have some stores in the area, but is nowhere near major employers. Does not seem like a good fit.

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What I have a problem with is government intervention into the local housing market. These apartments will undercut the lease prices on local rental units and drive down the market. Then the rent value goes down, the resale value to investors respectively goes down. This has the effect of lowering the market value of all homes in the surrounding area.

I understand the government selected the location for subsidized housing with the consideration many of the tenants will not own a car. They will evaluate the walking distance to shopping and employment. This location does have some stores in the area, but is nowhere near major employers. Does not seem like a good fit.

Right, the anti-government intervention angle. Don't get me wrong, I wish that all these housing subsidy programs would come to an unceremonious end, too. And that includes the myriad of subsidized mortgage programs and tax-deductible mortgage interest. By taking those incentives away, housing prices would collapse and many (if not most) of your neighbors would suddenly find themselves better served by renting their homes rather than owning. If there's any sort of glut of apartment supply (such as could potentially be undercut by tax credit housing), removing ownership incentives would fix that right up.

In all seriousness though, the tax credit units are priced such that only Class B- or C apartments would face additional competition. And since y'all don't have much of that (if any) in the Egypt submarket, it's not so much that any apartments get undercut...it's mostly that the area becomes accessible to more households that previously couldn't afford it.

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"In all seriousness though, the tax credit units are priced such that only Class B- or C apartments would face additional competition. And since y'all don't have much of that (if any) in the Egypt submarket, it's not so much that any apartments get undercut...it's mostly that the area becomes accessible to more households that previously couldn't afford it."

Its Magnolia; I seriously doubt there is much if any Class B- or C apartments in the area but I haven't been there to check. Yes, it makes the area more accessible to more households that previously couldn't afford it. Therein lies a large part of the problem. The households it makes it accessible too can't afford the automobiles and fuel necessary to make the commute to anywhere else for jobs. And there's no mass transit available in the immediate area. R

Realistically speaking, it doesn't matter. We're all adults here; we know what the bottom line is and why this is going on. Its social engineering. What isn't mentioned is that it has had a significant depressive effect on property values all across northern Harris county and South Montgomery County. There may be no stopping it but it is resulting in further unecessary sprawl and its contributing significantly to the growing perception that buying a house in areas subject to constant transition is anything except a good investment.

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Right, the anti-government intervention angle. Don't get me wrong, I wish that all these housing subsidy programs would come to an unceremonious end, too.

Nothing to do with social engineering or NIMBY. Just undercutting the housing market.

In all seriousness though, the tax credit units are priced such that only Class B- or C apartments would face additional competition.

You are correct there are no Class B/C apartments in the area. However is does compete with lower-end single family properties like older houses and newer trailers.

Here is my admittedly selfish part...I was (but not anymore) planning to purchase an area home as a rental unit. Since I’m no Warren Buffet I have to start small/cheap, and my target property rent would likely compete with the rents charged by the apartment complex. Having 180 new units in this rural area at sub-market prices will pretty much eliminate my target customer.

If the units were renting at market prices I would be just fine.

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  • 3 months later...

From the Community Impact Newspaper:

http://impactnews.com/articles/community-leaders-work-to-shape-magnolia-parkway-area/

“In March, area residents and members of local homeowners associations successfully lobbied against a multi-family apartment development planned for the Magnolia Parkway area. “Members of the local community spoke out against it and were able to provide information to other residents, and the local community did a good job of speaking up,” said Jason Rinn, chair of the Magnolia Parkway Chamber board. After hearing from the community, the developer of the project—the Mark Dana Corporation—decided against moving forward.

“Everyone thought it was a great program and a good thing, but they didn’t want it there,” said David Koogler, CEO of the Mark Dana Corporation. “Our projects are well-managed and well-controlled. When people don’t really understand what we do, it’s hard to get that message across.””

1. The article did not mention a specific apartment development, however I suspect it was Wedgewood Village.

2. I wonder how much influence to stop the development was from the Magnolia Parkway Chamber of Commerce, vs protests from the area homeowners.

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  • The title was changed to Affordable Housing Apartments Planned In E. Magnolia/Westwood

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