The City of El Paso has put in place an ambitious program designed to increase affordable housing projects in neighborhoods across the city.
What is officially called the 2024 Low Income Housing Tax Credit is designed to help address the funding challenges that come with building any housing project.
According to a City posting, “scarce funding hampers El Paso’s affordable housing projects, impeding efforts to meet growing demand across income levels.”
The initiative is seen as all the more timely given that the City currently has a gap of some 15,000 low-income housing units, a gap that some experts have said is only expected to grow during the next decade.
In the City posting, the challenges for such projects are clearly spelled out, with an emphasis on the problems with land use restrictions: “Strict land use regulations limit areas for affordable housing, complicating new developments and perpetuating socio-economic disparities.”
Projects targeting housing for resident earning 30% of Area Median Income are additionally confronted with a funding gap, “requiring extra subsidies and posting financial challenges without substantial support.”
By design, the Low Income Housing Tax Credits have the potential of subsidizing up to 70% of the low income unit costs in any given project.
Four developers have thus far applied for the tax credits to be applied to projects in varied sections of the city, with two planned for the west side and two more on the far east side.
In response, members of the El Paso City Council have approved Letters of No Obligation, allowing those projects to advance without any one project having an advantage over another.
By Garry Boulard
