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Retooling Affordable Housing Strategies Part 5 of 19 |
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Friday, 17 April 2009 |
The advantage of general obligation bonds is that they permit the city to borrow funds at one of the lowest possible interest rates. They are a form of long-term Short-Term Forex Trading borrowing in which the city issues municipal securities and pledges its full faith and credit to their repayment. Bonds are repaid through annual debt service. Property taxes for this one initiative will rise about $6 a year for the owner of a $174,000 homethe median-priced home in the city. Nonprofit, for-profit and preservation groups can apply for funding through a request-for-proposal to finance developments that meet the programs objective.
Because we know these funds are available and not subject to budget cuts, they greatly increase our ability as a community to plan, leverage and be creative on how Get Rich Trading E-Currency these dollars will be used over time, says Margaret Shaw, deputy director of the citys NHCD department.
Austins bond program is only the second in the state, after Houston, to use general obligation bonds specifically for affordable housing. Program administrators hope the bonds will attract $300 million in additional funds and create over 12,000 jobs. NHCD has established the programs accountability guidelines, which were subject to |
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Last Updated ( Friday, 17 April 2009 )
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Retooling Affordable Housing Strategies Part 4 of 19 |
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Thursday, 16 April 2009 |
General Obligation Bonds in Austin
In Austin, the shortage of affordable housing has been aggravated by falling incomes and rising housing costs. In 2006, incomes dropped 4 percent while housing costs Forex Trading Strategy increased 10 percent. This mismatch between income and home prices gives Austin one of the highest cost burdens in Texas.
The Texas A&M Real Estate Centers housing affordability index shows the degree of affordability by city (Table 1). Dividing HUD median family income by the required income for homeownership, affordability in Austin (1.62) is better than the state average (1.55) but worse than Dallas (1.73), Fort Worth (2.23) and Houston (1.67). Furthermore, Austins housing authority currently reports that it has about 4,000 families on the public housing waiting list and 6,000 on the Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) list. Neighborhood Housing and Community Development (NHCD) Director Paul Hilgers says the affordable housing crunch is getting worse as the number of new citizens and jobs coming to Austin outpaces the number of available affordable housing units. Austin realized it had a problem, Hilgers says, and its citizens have taken action.
In November 2006, Austin voters approved a $55 million affordable housing bond program by 62 percent. As a result, |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 16 April 2009 )
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Retooling Affordable Housing Strategies Part 2 of 19 |
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Monday, 13 April 2009 |
Affordable housing is housing that costs the owner or tenant no more than 30 percent of gross income, according to Trend Dynamics the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Rent or mortgage payments that exceed this percentage are considered a cost burden to the household because other basic expenses like health care, education and transportation are compromised.
In Texas, the number of families facing a cost burden is growing three times faster than the availability of decent, affordable housing, according to the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service. Rising housing costs have created a housing shortage Forex Trading Machine not only for lower-income groups, but also for middle-income professions such as teachers, nurses, firefighters, police officers and others who cant afford to live in the communities they serve. Maintaining employment does not guarantee that a family can find decent affordable housing. |
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Last Updated ( Monday, 13 April 2009 )
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