City leaders in Lewisville are trying to help solve the housing crisis. Affordable housing is becoming harder to find so the city is working to get big money in the form of a grant to help it’s residents. NBC 5’s Sophia Beausoleil explains, the city wants feedback from those who can benefit.
Monday evening the City of Lewisville held a public hearing to get input regarding a federal grant they're applying for to help with affordable housing. They're also asking people to take a survey to get the community's opinion.
Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing (PRO Housing) is a grant issued through the Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The city of Lewisville is applying for the fund amount of $5 million to help with different programs and projects to address affordable housing issues for low-to-moderate-income residents.
"Ultimately, the goal for the city of Lewisville is we want our residents to be able to stay here. We want folks to be able to live and thrive and create a family, create their community here, and then their kiddos create that community too and not be priced out," explained Elena Shehan, grants coordinator for the City of Lewisville.
She said they are about 4,598 units short for anyone in the income bracket of around $38,000 for one person and $55,000 for a family, which she said is a major chunk of the city's population.
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"She said if awarded the full amount, $2.25 million would go toward converting middle-sized housing and vacant properties to affordable tenant or homeownership. Specifically, duplexes and townhome-type properties, which make up only about 7% of the types of homes in Lewisville, said Shehan.
"So we're looking to try to bring some of that in there so that folks can either have a rental option that's not either a standard apartment complex or single-family or hopefully some home ownership in the future as well," said Shehan.
The other $2.25 million would be allocated for affordability for multifamily complexes. She said Lewisville is a majority renter city with more than 100 multifamily complexes, in which many apartments are more than two decades old.
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"We would be working with each multifamily complex to determine what their needs are. Are there needs to rehab the property so that we can buy down that affordability, or is the property in really good shape and they just need to buy down that affordability," explained Shehan.
Last year, the city applied for the same grant, but did not win. HUD awarded 21 applicants from around the country money, including Fort Worth which received $5 million.
Shehan said they're hopeful for this year and want to get more interaction from the public regarding opinions.
People can review the document and leave public comment through Oct. 10. on the city website through the "Community Development" page, people can find the document. It's also available for viewing in person through Thursday, October 10 at 151 W. Church St., at the Building Inspections counter and at the Lewisville Public Library's Reference Desk.
