Taking Housing to Task

Just This.

This week the most comprehensive study of San Antonio’s housing needs produced a detailed proposal to address a severe and growing problem.

The Housing Policy Task Force Calls for 10-Year, $3.9 Billion Plan One statistic is particularly powerful: Paying the median rent for an apartment requires a wage of $18 an hour, yet 60 percent of San Antonio workers make less than $15. Owning a house is even tougher: The median price of a home has soared 40 percent in the last six years, and the trend is likely to continue.

Addressing the issue, the report says, will require considerable resources and a novel approach to affordable housing. A city’s housing stock is part of its infrastructure, just like water, streets, drainage. and sewage. If the free market can’t provide affordable housing, we need to address the problem collectively as a city – just as we do our other infrastructure needs.

Lourdes Castro Ramírez, who chaired Mayor Ron Nirenberg's Housing Policy Task Force that produced the study, joins us to discuss its findings.