San Antonio officials celebrated poolside Wednesday at the grand opening of 100 Labor, a 213-unit mixed-income apartment complex in the Lavaca neighborhood that’s been at least six years in the making.
“This development brings much-needed workforce housing … to downtown San Antonio for residents who work in important tourism and service industry jobs,” said Michael Reyes, acting president and CEO of Opportunity Home, the local housing authority that owns the development. “In order to ensure housing of this kind is achieved, we have to be creative with our approach,”
Forty-four, or 20%, of the apartments will be reserved for residents with little to no income, Reyes said. Residents who apply to live in those units must earn between 0% and 15% of the area’s median income — that’s less than $9,300 per year or less for an individual — to qualify. Those residents’ rent will be capped at 30% of their income.
The remaining market-rate apartments, including studios as well as one- and two-bedrooms, range from $1,000 to $3,750.
“This is truly a transit-oriented development,” said Opportunity Home Board Chair Gabe Lopez, noting that 100 Labor is near a VIA Metropolitan Transit center and future rapid transit lines. “More of this type of housing development is needed as the residents we serve may lack transportation to get where they need to go and access to opportunities and services resources they need to thrive.”
The development also features four, ground-floor commercial spaces available to rent, but it’s another commercial element that has some neighborhood advocates concerned.
While the Lavaca neighborhood has largely welcomed the development, the 26 units reserved for short-term rentals (STRs) have given some residents pause.
Short-term rentals
STRs are an especially touchy subject in the historic neighborhood, where the neighborhood charm, amenities and close proximity to downtown has already attracted hundreds of listings on Airbnb and other vacation rental websites.
“Who would have thought Opportunity Home would be in the short-term rental market?” said Bianca Maldonado, who served on task forces that developed and modified the city’s STR ordinance and is a member of the steering committee for the Tier One Neighborhood Coalition. “It just looks sketchy.”
The city’s Strategic Housing Implementation Plan calls for “increased investment in housing,” said Maldonado, who lives in Monticello Park, which also has issues with STRs. “This is not an increase in investment in housing.”
But the short-term rental units — and the other market rate units — are actually helping subsidize the affordable housing at 100 Labor and across Opportunity Home’s housing network, said Miranda Castro, the agency’s chief asset management officer.
Opportunity Home agreed to a “bulk lease agreement” with a private third party to rent out a portion of the market-rate units and the agency gets a cut of the revenue from the short-term stays, Castro said. The number of STR complies with the city’s ordinance, limiting the number of STRs per block, she said.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) does not reimburse housing authorities for the full cost of income-based units, Castro explained. “So we have to take some money from other sources to make all of it work.”
Opportunity Home representatives did not provide the name of the third party STR operator by deadline Wednesday.
The unusual arrangement allowing STRs on Opportunity Home properties is “the only one we anticipate having, because this is a unique spot,” Reyes said. “We’re downtown, so it’s a unique situation. It’s not a thing we’re going to be doing more of moving forward.”
But the City of San Antonio chipped in about $700,000 toward the project in 2014 from a fee-waiver and tax rebate program used to incentivize inner-city housing developments, Maldonado noted. That’s money intended for housing, “not hotels.”
Cherise Rohr-Allegrini, former president of the Lavaca Neighborhood Association, is also concerned about STRs in her neighborhood — but since 100 Labor is in compliance with the ordinance and they are not using subsidized units for STRs, she’s somewhat resigned to them being there.
“None of that should be short-term rental, because we need housing … including market rate,” Rohr-Allegrini said, “but as long as they met what had been agreed on for [subsidized] housing, then they’re doing what they’re supposed to do.”
In 2018, Opportunity Home estimated that 100 Labor would cost about $45 million. Due to increased construction costs over the years, the project totaled more than $51 million; $42 million from HUD, $7.2 million from Opportunity Home, $1.5 million from the city’s Inner City Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone and the $700,000 incentive.
Progressive leaders in San Antonio celebrated the bright spot at 100 Labor on Wednesday morning — while still reeling from the news that Republican Donald Trump was again elected president.
“If you feel like me today, the first thing that comes to mind is: Thank God I live in the City of San Antonio,” said Mayor Ron Nirenberg, who was joined by State Sen. Jose Menendez at the grand opening of 100 Labor. “We are very intentional about providing spaces like this for every family in this city, and we have a plan to do that.”
100 Labor is part of the redevelopment of Victoria Courts, a federally-funded Section 8 housing that spanned 36 acres and became a hotbed for crime before being demolished in 1999. HUD has since adopted policies that deconcentrate poverty and encourage higher building standards.
Resident Juanita Castillo, who lived in Victoria Courts starting in 1987, said she was happy to move into 100 Labor in March.
“I’m in a better place that I have never been before,” Castillo said. She welcomes her new neighbors and the development that was “built for everybody,” including families.
“Children don’t know they’re poor until someone makes them feel that way,” Menendez said, complimenting Franklin Companies on the construction of the complex.
“If we give them an opportunity to feel like they’re just as valuable as anybody else — they live in just as nice a place as anybody else — [then] they don’t have to feel insecure about who they are and what their opportunities for their future are. And that’s what [100 Labor] means.”