Good morning, everybody.

The time is 10 04 a.m.

on September 23rd, 2025, and the meeting of the planning and community development committee is now called to order.

Madam Clerk, can you please call the roll?

Councilmember Corps.

Councilmember Castillo.

Councilmember Galvan.

Chair Mungia.

Present.

Sir, we have a quorum.

Excellent.

The first item on the agenda is the approval of the minutes.

Are there any corrections to the minutes and can I get a motion to approve?

We have a motion and a second.

Any discussion?

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

All opposed.

Excellent.

Absolutely.

Aye.

Okay, good.

Motion carries unanimously.

Okay, public comment.

Madam Clerk, are there any citizens signed up to speak?

Um item number two is creation of a task force to increase housing supply for the following special populations.

Veterans seeking to utilize housing vouchers within five miles of a veterans' affairs health care facility, disabled neighbors, notably the deaf and blind seniors in LGBT plus, LGBTQ plus uh unhoused youth.

Is there a presentation?

Veronica, I'm not sure your mic is working.

You might need to press the button.

Absolutely right.

Good morning.

Veronica Garcia, director of neighborhood housing services departments.

Uh today's item uh will look at a focus on strategies to increase the housing supply for four different special priority categories, including people with disabilities, particularly uh vision and hearing, uh, older adults, LGBTQ plus unhoused youth, veterans with housing vouchers, specifically those seeking housing within five miles of a veteran affairs facility.

This item uh was asked by the mayor in a committee memo outlining the planning community development committee and asked that a task force be assembled to look at these specific housing populations, and then the memo further outlined that the task force submit a report on the initial findings and recommendations to City Council by January 15th.

I'm joined this morning by Mark Carmona, our chief housing officer, and Pete Alanis with the San Antonio Housing Trust, who will both assist with this task force effort.

October 1st begins year five of the strategic housing implementation plan, and this year we will be updating our ship housing goals.

The ship includes several strategies aimed at preserving and increasing the housing supply for priority special populations.

Um but the key thing I want to highlight is that our ship is based on partnerships.

We have been able to make progress toward our housing goals by partnering with the San Antonio Housing Trust, Opportunity Home, Bear County, as well as our nonprofit and industry partners.

So now I'll go into some of our current work.

For housing for people with disabilities, we do have a federal requirement that mandates that 5% of new multifamily construction projects include mobility modifications, and 2% specifically must include units with modifications specifically for hearing and visually impaired individuals.

As of last quarter, when we look at our ship housing goals, we have over 550 housing units that specifically have met these mobility modifications.

And in 2024, the San Antonio Housing Trust adopted universal design standards for their new multifamily housing communities.

This includes uh standards such as wider doorways, um zero-step entries, as well as many other universal design, and these standards will be incorporated into their housing projects going forward.

Um, when the city issues a competitive solicitation for housing dollars for new housing communities, we also include universal design standards for projects that we award funds to for older adults.

The ship does have a goal of 1200 age-restricted homes created or preserved.

Um, as of last quarter, we have achieved that goal three times over with units completed under construction or in progress.

Um the housing trust is also working on master planning efforts in partnership with the city.

There are two projects, both of them are located in Council District 2, where we are working on master planning efforts to create new potential senior centers, and both centers will have housing for older adults co-located on site.

For LGBTQ plus unhoused youth, the Department for Human Services and the San Antonio Housing Trust have both hosted workshops on these issues.

The Alliance to House Everyone, which is our COC Continuum of Care Group, also has this as part of their annual action plan.

So we'll be sure to engage all of those stakeholders in this discussion.

For veterans with housing vouchers, the planning community development committee assembled a working group specifically to address this, so I'll have more updates on that.

In addition, I want to take this opportunity to congratulate the San Antonio Housing Trust, which just opened Valor Hill this past July.

Valor Hill is a former assistive living facility at the medical center, which is now affordable housing focused on supporting local veterans.

The housing community also includes 20 housing vouchers to provide housing to formerly homeless veterans.

In addition, the VA hospital is nearby, and there are services offered on site by the VA, Endeavors, and the American GI Forum.

So as mentioned, the housing, the PCDC directed and worked with the housing commission to create a task force specifically on this topic, the working closely with Close to Home.

They led this effort to create the rental assist engagement and assistance to connect with housing initiatives.