SAN ANTONIO — A festive ribbon-cutting at a new west-side apartment complex Thursday celebrated the transformation of raw land into a safe community for more than 200 residents who need it most.
Former San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros, now with Mission Development Group, told guests at the debut of Aspire at Tampico that his team invested many hours coming up with a way to make the financing work for the 200 units, of which 136 are reserved for people who need rental assistance.
"You just don't find that in San Antonio, and you don't find that with this quality in this location," Cisneros said of the public-private collaboration.
Cisneros said senior citizens will find comfort in living affordably and students will feel safe and grow to the point where college admission letters will arrive, heralding the beginning of a better life.
The former mayor and secretary of housing and urban development said his experience gave him an opportunity to learn "all of the other goals that we have for our society."
"Better education, stable jobs, all of the goals we have cannot be accomplished if we don't provide people a stable and decent place to live," he said.
There are studio apartments, along with one- and two-bedroom choices, and monthly rental rates vary, depending on income. They start at $381 and go tp $1,412.
The complex opened several months ago and the management team says all of the units reserved for affordable rates are full, but at 95% occupancy they still have room for a few more residents who are able to pay market rates.
While the celebration continued on the west side, a seminar across town at the TriPoint Center encouraged more people who own rental properties to become involved in the Housing Choice Voucher program sponsored by the Opportunity Home group, formerly known as the San Antonio Housing Authority.
The purpose of the meeting was to educate prospective landlords about opportunities and benefits of the program, as the need for more safe living spaces is so great.
Officials said there are more than 86,000 individuals on their housing waiting lists.
Property owner John Lineweaver said he came to the event with his property manager to learn how to become more involved, saying he was happy with the results.
"It's working out fantastic. I really love the counselors, I really love the training they're providing and I think it's fantastic information that should be provided to the general public," Lineweaver said.
Alex Szozea said he recently inherited some rental property and is interested in learning how to work within the system to take full advantage of everything offered.
Szozea said getting information online or over the phone about the project is often difficult, so he said the in-person session was helpful.
"They want to engage with you and make it a seamless process," he said.
Click here to learn more about how to participate in the process.