Planning and Community Development Committee Meeting - February 24, 2026
Planning and Community Development Committee Meeting - February 24, 2026
The Planning and Community Development Committee (PCDC) of the San Antonio City Council met on February 24, 2026, at 10:04 AM. The meeting covered three major briefings: a special housing supply task force report targeting veterans with housing vouchers, people with disabilities, older adults, and LGBTQ+ youth; proposed updates to the Tax Increment Finance (TIF) policy to strengthen displacement protections; and a proposal to formalize city assistance for residents after home fires. Public comment focused on veteran housing discrimination. The committee provided feedback and directed staff to return with final recommendations.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of the minutes was moved and seconded, passed unanimously.
- The consent agenda (Item 2) for District 4 was moved, seconded, and passed unanimously.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Pete Bernal (American GI Forum) spoke in support of a policy to prohibit discrimination against veterans using VASH vouchers, arguing that the policy would expand available housing from 200 to 2,000–3,000 units in San Antonio. He urged the committee to pass the ordinance to help homeless veterans and expressed willingness to continue advocating.
- Second speaker (also American GI Forum) supported a standalone veteran housing anti-discrimination policy, emphasizing that the issue affects not just apartment renters but also homeowners renting properties. She requested the policy be separated from other housing issues and noted that veterans want to choose where to live based on schools, transit, and shopping, not just proximity to VA hospitals.
Discussion Items
- Item 3: Briefing on Increasing Housing Supply for Veterans with Vouchers, People with Disabilities, Older Adults, and LGBTQ+ Youth – Veronica Garcia (NHSD Director) presented initial recommendations from the Special Housing Supply Task Force. The task force engaged 35 organizations, hosted panel discussions, conducted site visits, and surveyed over 350 community members. Key recommendations include adding 3,200 homes over 3–5 years: 250 units near transit/medical center for veteran voucher holders, 500 accessible units for blind/deaf residents, 2,400 age-restricted homes, and 100 supportive units for LGBTQ+ unhoused youth. Recommendations for justice-involved populations were also discussed. Councilmembers discussed universal design ordinances, voucher acceptance, legislative advocacy (Medicaid expansion, tax credits), and the need for robust funding. The chair noted $9 million from the current housing bond was set aside for land acquisition. Committee feedback supported the direction, with requests to refine goal-setting methodology and improve the housing dashboard.
- Item 4: Briefing on TIF Policy Update Regarding Displacement – Ian Benavides (NHSD Deputy Director) presented proposed language changes to the TIF policy to clarify that projects causing direct residential displacement are ineligible. Changes include: a two-year lookback for displacement, inclusion of future phases and contiguous property, and a requirement for all projects (not just housing) to complete a Displacement Impact Assessment (DIA) covering a quarter-mile radius. Projects scoring medium or high risk must include a mitigation plan. Committee members expressed strong support, noting the changes would prevent situations like the recent baseball stadium project where housing displacement occurred on adjacent land controlled by the same developer.
- Item 5: Briefing on City Assistance After Home Fires – Justina Tate (Interim Assistant City Manager) outlined the current process: SAFD coordinates with Red Cross for temporary shelter, and DSD inspects structures for demolition. Since the CCR was filed, the city updated fee waiver eligibility to include fire victims and created a house fire checklist. Dr. Daniel Martinez (Red Cross) noted San Antonio has the highest home fire response rate in Texas (average 8 responses/day) and that socioeconomic factors correlate with higher risks. Councilmembers requested exploration of waiving demolition liens for occupied homes where the owner intends to rebuild, especially for homestead properties, and formalizing notification to council offices. The committee directed staff to continue developing the policy.
Key Outcomes
- The committee directed staff to finalize the Special Housing Supply Task Force report by March 2026 for PCDC approval, with input on goal-setting methodology and dashboard improvements.
- The committee expressed consensus to move the TIF policy language changes forward, with next steps including briefing TIF boards, stakeholder outreach, and City Council adoption in March 2026.
- For the home fire assistance policy, the committee requested further exploration of fee abatement or lien policy changes for homestead properties, and formalization of council office notification. The briefing will return for a follow-up.
Meeting Transcript
Good morning. The time is now 10.04 on February 24th, 2026, and the meeting of the planning and community development committee is now called to order. Madam Clerk, can you please call roll? Councilmember Corr. Councilmember Castillo. Councilmember Galvan here. Chair Mungia. President. Sir, we have a quorum. Thank you. First amendment agenda is approval of the minutes. Are there any corrections to the minutes? And if not, can I get a motion and a second to approve the minutes? Motion to approve. There's a motion and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed. Motion passes. Before we get to public comment, I do want to recognize that we do have a new liaison to the committee. Justina Tate from the city manager's office. Good morning. Thank you. So she's going to do a rig great job helping us out here today. We thank uh John for his service. Um we are going to go on to public comments. Uh, Madam Clerk, are there any citizens sign up to speak uh for public comment? We have two individuals signed up to speak. Thank you. First individual is Pete Bernal. Hello. Okay. Uh good evening, councilman and committee. Thank you for having me. This is the moment time to speak. Oh I just want to speak on the uh veterans issues. Um, that's in part item number three. I just want to let you know that um we haven't been we're trying to get this this policy passed. I'm reiterating, I'm gonna keep coming, and probably gonna be a pain in the butt sometimes just because I I'm really adamant about pushing this policy or ordinance to help get um the discrimination of vets using the Vash voucher. It says section eight on there, but it's really a VASH voucher um that helps vets and it's organized by the the VA. This helps get vets off the streets. It helps them get into areas where they're not able to get. It's not about just um having access to the hospitals. It's it's it's being able to choose where do you live. I so I want you to understand that these are we are people like most of the people that do use this are grunts. Most of the people have not officers and nothing, not retirees. These are people that just can't get the leg off off the street. In this realm, if you use the vast voucher policy, that would be we would go from anywhere between 200 places to live to over almost uh two or three thousand places to live in the area of San Antonio. This helps, and then once we can start here, we can expand it, try to get it to a state level, national level. It's just one of those things where I see us as military USA, and I feel that this is a policy that can help us progress ourselves in being that part of that.
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