CITY & SCHOOLS
News from the City of Houston & Houston ISD
COMPILED BY SHAWN ARRAJJ
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS HOUSTON The Houston City Council will vote Oct. 5 on the adoption of a proposed scal year 2022-23 property tax rate of $0.53364 per $100 of valuation. The proposed rate is lower than the current tax rate of $0.55083. In a budget passed earlier this year, city o cials projected bringing in $1.28 billion in property tax revenue in scal year 2022-23, up from $1.23 billion in the previous year. Under the proposed tax rate, a home valued at $300,000 would yield about $52 less in annual property taxes owed. However, rising home appraisal values may still result in higher bills for homeowners. HOUSTON At a Sept. 14 meeting, the Houston City Council voted to allocate just under $5.5 million to professional services for the city’s Permitting Center. Funding will help design and build a new permitting and inspection system, including a new customer portal, a back-end comprehensive web-application, and a mobile application for eld inspector use. HOUSTON ISD Houston ISD is hosting a series of town hall events in the rst half of October, including an event at 6 p.m. Oct. 4 at Lamar High School, 3325 Westheimer Road, Houston. Attendees will hear an overview and give feedback on the district’s ve-year strategic plan released in February and progress that has been made so far. Houston City Council will meet for public comment at 2 p.m. Oct. 4 and regular business at 9 a.m. Oct. 5 at 901 Bagby St., Houston. Meetings are streamed at www.houstontx.gov/htv. Houston ISD will meet for its regular meeting at 5 p.m. Oct. 13 at the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center, 4400 W. 18th St., Houston. Meetings are streamed live at www.houstonisd.org. MEETINGS WE COVER
Houston approves $2M toward navigation center
HOUSTON In an 15-1 vote Sept. 14, the Houston City Council approved an agreement between the city and a local homelessness services orga- nization for the operation of a new navigation center in the Fifth Ward. As part of the agreement, the city will pay just under $2 million in federal coronavirus relief money to help fund operations at the center through Aug. 31, 2023. Located at 2903 Jensen Drive, Houston, the center will provide
temporary beds to a minimum of 350 homeless people annually along with services to help them obtain employ- ment and address health care and other needs. The city’s partnership is with the Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County, which will operate the center. Addressing concerns from Fifth Ward community members who have expressed frustration about the proj- ect being placed in their community while other issues went unaddressed,
Mayor Sylvester Turner said the city was committed to making sure the new center enhanced the area. He emphasized that a navigation center is di erent from a homeless shelter, adding it does not take walk-ins and individuals will only stay for 60-90 days before being transitioned into other housing. “There was a need for the Navigation Center in order to get people o the street,” Turner said at the Sept. 14 meeting. In addition, Turner said the rst year of the center’s operation will serve as an evaluation period. He vowed to shut the center down if it does not “live up to the promise” of not burdening the community. Other services will include transportation to and from the center, 24/7 security, three meals a day, laundry and one-on-one case management.
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A building on Jensen Drive will be turned into a homeless services center.
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Houston approves Midtown a ordable housing project despite concerns
HOUSTON A new a ordable hous- ing project for homeless individuals is moving forward in Midtown after the Houston City Council approved a $18.7 million loan agreement at its Aug. 24 meeting. The loan funds were made pos- sible through Hurricane Harvey Community Development Block Grants designed to help cities recover a ordable housing projects that were lost during the 2017 ood. The project at 3300 Caroline St. will feature 149 apartments and shared space for sup- portive programs and o ce space.
It will be built through a partner- ship between the nonpro t Magni - cat Houses and the NHP Foundation, a New York City-based company that runs other communities in Houston. Some council members opposed the agreement, citing poor living conditions at those communities. The project is being funded through a collaboration between the city and Harris County with the latter contributing $10.2 million. As part of Harris County’s funding agreement, a tenant bill of rights has been established, providing protections for
tenants in forming a tenant orga- nization, getting broken elements repaired and dealing with hazardous conditions, among others. The loan term stretches 40 years from the date construction on the project is completed, which is estimated at August 2024.
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