Council will consider workforce housing development agreement

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A special called meeting of the Kerrville City Council on Wednesday will feature discussion and possible action regarding a subdivision agreement with Lennar Homes of Texas Land and Construction. The development would include 125 lots of single-family detached housing priced from $185,000 to $227,000, which meets the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs definition of workforce housing.

The city owns a 34-acre tract just southwest of the intersection of Loop 534 and Olympic Drive (under construction) and sought development proposals for this tract, but no viable proposals were accepted, and the RFPs expired. The city and EIC partially funded an extension of Olympic Drive to provide access to develop this tract, as well as improved access to the new Peterson Middle School campus. Part of the impetus of extending Olympic Drive was to make it easier/more attractive for development.

Kerrville is in desperate need of low and moderately-priced housing. The most recent report from the Kerrville Board of Realtors puts the median home price over $300,000, an increase of 23% since August 2019. This media sales price is far out of reach for the average working family — the median income of a working family in Kerrville is approximately $47,000.

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