Housing authority, private developer argue over tax credits

are competing for the city’s support. abc-7’s maria garcia is live to explain: every year the state awards federal tax credits to housing auhorities or private developers to build affordable housing. and when choosing who gets these credits, the state considers which projects the respective cities support. so this year the housing authority and private frim tropicana buildign were competing for the city’s support. tropicana says the housing authority wanted special treatment from the city: “the thing that we all want a taxpayers is a fair and level playing field especially when you’re going into competition with your own government funding boy your own tax dollars.” “”we are not the same. w shouldn’t treated the same. we are the infrastructure. we are the last resofr for 40,000 people to live. housing authority ceo gerry cichon says the housing authority builds affordabel housing strategically close to schools, community centers, and mass transit. he says private developers don’t do that and instead build in the outskirts of the city where it’s cheaper. plus he says the housing authority help a more vulnerable, poorer population and theyr’e the reason help a more vulnerable, poorer population and theyr’e the reason el paso doesn’t have a massive homeless population like other cities. tropicana says their housing help struggling working class el pasoans fix their credit and eventually buy a home. and they dispute cichon’s claims: one of the first things we always look for where the schools are going to be, twhere the roads are and wehre the infrastrucure is. it’s the key component for all of tropicana’s developments. 80 years from now the housing authority will still be here. in 80 years i dount any of the developers in that room will still be here.” cichon was talking about the fact that the housing units built by private developers only have to be affordable housing for 30 years. in the end council ditched their usual scoring system and instead chose to write a letter of support for both the housing authority and the tropicana. it also voted to create a housing strategic plan to map out future housing fits with schools, transportation and doesn’t just fall in the outskirts of the city. for months now, the county has been trying to come up with an ascarate park