Georgetown

Georgetown Housing Advisory Board study showed gaps in residential options, possible deficit by 2018

After more than two years since the last proposed affordable housing complex lost funding, the Texas Housing Foundation, a regional public housing authority, is moving forward with plans to build an income-restricted multifamily residential complex in Georgetown.

In March, the planning and zoning commission and City Council are expected to consider rezoning the Gateway Northwest Apartments’ site, which will be located off of Northwest Boulevard and Washam Drive.

“From the citizenry standpoint, it will be 180 new units of quality, affordable housing to meet the ever-growing demand for quality housing within a very affluent area—and I don’t mean affluent in the number of dollars, but affluent in a sense of growth potential,” Texas Housing Foundation CEO Mark Mayfield said.

Other affordable housing complexes, including a rehabilitation project for San Gabriel Apartments, as well as a proposed senior living complex and another income-restricted development, are also expected to come before City Council in February seeking resolutions of support.

Demand

Georgetown’s growth has added to the demand for affordable, multifamily living spaces, Georgetown Housing Coordinator Jennifer Bills said.

“We’ve gone from being Georgetown small town to Georgetown with major shopping centers and employment centers,” she said. “You have a real mix of incomes when you do that.”

A 2008 housing study by the Georgetown Housing Advisory Board, which is being updated and is expected to go to City Council in April, found that the city could have a deficit of about 1,300 affordable multifamily units by 2018.

“Going forward from now, there will be a deficit,” Bills said. “None of the assumptions have changed much in the last three years.”

The study looked at who was living in Georgetown and how much rent they were paying and compared it to the trends of who was moving into Georgetown and what was being developed. What was identified was a need for a range of multifamily housing options on an affordable level, Bills said.

“Originally, when we started the housing plan, we thought there was a need for more single-family development,” Bills said. “But it was actually the multifamily market that was going to have a shortfall.”

Bills said the study qualified affordable housing as units set up for income levels at 80 percent or below the Area Median Family Income.

“The problem with most market-rate apartments is there is nothing to keep them from becoming unaffordable to people,” she said.