San Antonio council decision to kill affordable-housing project draws cries of 'redlining'

Critics are accusing some City Council members of housing discrimination after shooting down a proposed low-income apartment complex in an affluent Northeast San Antonio neighborhood on Thursday.

In a lengthy tweet, Democratic State Rep. Diego Bernal wrote that the difference between what council did during its Zoning and Land Use Session and redlining — the illegal practice in which housing lenders discriminated against minorities – was "almost indistinguishable."

5. The difference between this and redlining is almost indistinguishable.

6. You are always allowed to change your mind when you learn new information. That’s what responsible leadership is.

.@COSAGOV

— Diego Bernal (@DiegoBernalTX) September 20, 2024

Meanwhile, District 9 Councilman and mayoral candidate John Courage described his colleagues' decision to scrap the affordable-housing project as "shortsighted."

I’m extremely disappointed in Council’s decision to ignore our long-term commitment to house the most vulnerable in our community. It is shortsighted to deny an affordable housing project because of NIMBYism.

— Councilman John Courage (@JohnCourageD9) September 19, 2024

Council was scheduled to vote on zoning approval that would have allowed the proposed 85-unit Vista Park Apartments complex to move forward. However, four council members – District 6 Councilwoman Melissa Cabello Havrda, District 7's Marina Alderete Gavito, District 8's Manny Pelaez of District 8 and District 10's Marc Whyte — voted against the change, dooming the project.

Whyte led the charge against the proposed complex, which also would have included the construction of a preschool. Despite a clamor for more affordable housing in the city, Whyte argued the project would have caused traffic headaches.

"I want to be really clear: I have nothing against affordable housing … but this particular site on Nacogdoches Road is not appropriate for this project," said Whyte, whose district would have included the new development.

Whyte further argued that at least 15 other apartment complexes stand within a two-mile radius of the Nacogdoches Road plot where the new development was proposed. What's more, the three-story building would "tower over" nearby single-family homes, he added.

"I have over 115 calls, emails and voicemails to my office from members of the surrounding neighborhood talking to me about the nightmare that it is to get out every morning to go to work and to come home in the evenings," Whyte said.

In the lead-up to the vote, District 10 residents also expressed concerns about the possibility of an uptick in crime if the project was built, the Express-News reported.

The axing of Vista Park comes a week after council voted to move forward on a new, $160 million minor-league baseball stadium. That project will displace residents of the Soap Factory Apartments, which offered low-cost housing for service industry and hospitality workers even though it didn't fit the technical definition of low-income housing.

Mayor Ron Nirenberg — one of the ballpark project's staunchest supporters — expressed dismay that his colleagues' wouldn't allow Vista Park to move forward.

"I'm very disappointed if we say no to an affordable housing complex that has $20 million already assigned to it, that for the first time in our city's history has early childhood education attached to it, that is on a transit line," Nirenberg said. "If our standard for making the right decision is that there is no controversy, there will be paralysis moving forward on every big decision coming to this body."

Nirenberg wasn't alone.

District 5 Councilwoman Teri Castillo, one of the council's most progressive members and a vocal critic of the ballpark project, tweeted out her displeasure at the vote.

"Well whether it's subsidized or naturally occurring affordable housing this Council isn't having any," she wrote.

Well whether it’s subsidized or naturally occurring affordable housing this Council isn’t having any! 🫨

— Councilwoman Teri Castillo (@TeriCastilloD5) September 19, 2024

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