‘A Missed Opportunity': McKinney Council Vote Dooms Low-income Housing Project

MCKINNEY — Mayor George Fuller criticized a decision this week by the City Council denying a developer's application for a low-income housing tax credit to fund an apartment complex with affordable housing. He called the vote "a missed opportunity."Fuller, who supported the tax credit application, said the council's decision Tuesday night dooms the project since council support for it was paramount. But Fuller added that the council's vote doesn't necessarily mean that an apartment building won't one day sit on the piece of property that neighbors Trinity Presbyterian Church, the Chateau retirement community and Dowell Middle School. The property already is zoned for multi-family housing. "It just kills that project. But now, it has been identified that there is a multi-family zoned piece of property in the heart of that part of McKinney that's highly desirable," the mayor said after the tight 4-3 vote. "I believe that we will see multi-family on that piece of property in short order." It just might not be a low-income rental funded with the help of federal tax dollars. Those kinds of properties have more oversight than market-rate rentals because, if they are not managed properly and become neglected, their tax credits could be yanked back. "Most apartments become very quickly just maximized returns," Fuller said. "Which is why when you hear people talk about apartment complexes like multi-family that get rundown, they get rundown because investors that are purchasing these properties are looking for returns on their money, so they do the bare minimum." A continuing need Named Maddox Square, the complex by Saigebrook Development would have brought another low-income tax credit housing to the city's west side of mostly new-built single-family brick homes. Currently, most of the city's affordable housing is clustered on its east side.   Continue reading...