How Corpus Christi mayoral and at-large candidates would address affordable housing

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the number of years at-large candidate Larry White has lived in Corpus Christi. He has lived in Corpus Christi for 35 years.

Corpus Christi's shortage of affordable housing isn't a new issue to most City Council candidates. 

It's a challenge city residents face. 

Here's what those looking for a new home are up against: 

• The average salary in Corpus Christi is about $45,000 a year.
• Home prices in the city average about $200,000. 
• Monthly rent for a home or apartment, on average, is more than $1,500.

In the past two years, the city has given nearly $3 million to support affordable housing. Of that investment, $2.3 million was for affordable multifamily developments and $680,000 was for first-time homebuyer assistance, City Manager Peter Zanoni said. 

Here are affordable housing projects the city has recently backed: 

• The Village at Greenwood would have a total of 60 multi-family homes at Greenwood Drive and Frio Street. More than 50 them would be rented to families that earn at or below 80 percent of the area's median income.
• FishPond at Corpus Christi would be a new complex with 112 Section 8 apartments on Sixth Street, between Buford Street and Hancock Avenue. It's being built to house residents who current live in the falling-apart Sea Gulf Villas on North Chaparral Street. They will be relocated to the new development. 
• FishPond at Fitzgerald would be located at Fitzgerald and North Chaparral streets and would have about 100 apartment units. About 86 units would serve families at or below 60 percent of the area median income. 
• Village at McArdle would be located at 5314 McArdle Road and have 82 apartment units. About 70 of those units would be rented out to families at or below 60 percent of the area median income.
• Washington Coles Apartments would be located at 1124 Martin Luther King Drive and have 86 apartment units. About 56 units would also serve families at or below 60 percent of the area median income.

And Corpus Christi isn't just short on affordable housing, it has a limited housing supply in general. 

The Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Corp. projects Corpus Christi as a whole needs 2,000 to 4,000 more residential units a year to come online.

Things will get even tighter when Steel Dynamics, Inc., finishes building a $1.9 billion steel mill near Sinton. The company expects to have about 650 employees on site by mid-2021. 

As employment growth of the Steel Dynamics campus ramps up, the CCREDC expects more than 100 homes a year could be acquired by the plant's employees.

The Caller-Times asked each mayoral and at-large candidate how to best address the shortage.

Candidates were also asked how they could help the community recover amid the COVID-19 crisis, and how they would manage infrastructure costs with new growth.

Responses were limited to 75 words. Answers exceeding the limit were cut at that point. They are printed verbatim as they were submitted by the candidates.

Here’s what they said:

Question: As the average price of housing soars, what policies could the council adopt to increase availability of homes that families and workers can afford?  

Mayoral candidates

Pancho Villa 

(in previous runs for election, he has been listed as Ray Madrigal de Pancho Villa or Reynaldo "Ray" Madrigal.)

• Age: 78
• Years of Corpus Christi residency: 77
• Occupation: Retired photographer

*No response received as of deadline; however, Pancho Villa said he planned to send a response Monday.

Eric Rodriguez

• Age: 32
• Years of Corpus Christi residency: Six
• Occupation: Environmental services at Naval Air Station-Corpus Christi with Naval Facilities Engineering Command

Response: By speeding up and strengthening code enforcement, creating a vacant building tax, shortening time to seize and demolish derelict and vacant properties. Creating a “land bank” from those properties can make that land available at a low cost or free to participating developers. By creating multi-use zoning along former commercial zoned areas (like uptown Staples) to allow for apartments, duplexes, and townhouses with neighborhood commercial. Get away from single use zoning below light industrial.

Carolyn Vaughn

• Age: 67
• Years of Corpus Christi residency: 43
• Occupation: President, Vaughn Energy Services (oil and energy company)
• Current: Nueces County Commissioner, Precinct 1 (appointed 2018, elected 2018)
• Previous City Council positions: District 1 representative (2014 and 2016)

Response: The city has numerous surplus properties that are unused and could be sold at good prices, or even donated under the right circumstances, to the private sector or to nonprofits and foundations that would get those properties back on the tax rolls and available for housing at a fair market value. We should also streamline development services to make it less costly and less time consuming to get needed housing in place. The goal is (cut at word limit)  

Priscilla Leal Gonzalez

• Age: 36
• Years of Corpus Christi residency: 10
• Occupation: Marketing supervisor, Herrman & Herrman

Response: This virus has shown us the vulnerabilities of our system to support and protect the people when they need it the most. As mayor of Corpus Christi I would propose allocating funding to create livable affordable housing for families. I don’t want the people of Corpus Chrisi to have the added stress of keeping a roof over their head amidst the threat of this virus.

Joe Michael Perez

• Age: 28
• Years of Corpus Christi residency: Three
• Occupation: Self-employed owner of a Trump pop-up store (retail)

*No response received as of deadline

Roberto Seidner

• Age: 71
• Years of Corpus Christi residency: 25
• Occupation: Retired physician

*No response received as of deadline

Joe McComb

• Age: 73
• Years of Corpus Christi residency: 40
• Occupation: President and CEO of McComb Relocation Services, a moving and storage company
• Current: Incumbent mayor (elected 2018)
• Past City Council positions: Mayor (elected 2017); councilman at-large (elected 2016)

Response:

• Investment of 4a/4b sales tax dollars in different affordable housing programs in first time homebuyer program and funding participation in housing (owner occupied and rental) to residents that have modest family incomes.
• Proactively opposed increases to Texas Windstorm Insurance rates.
• No utility rate increases in current budget and working hard to minimize future increases.
• Though prices increasing, fueled by major increases in construction materials, median home prices in city remain substantially below Texas average.

John Medina

• Age: 62
• Years of Corpus Christi residency: 34
• Occupation: Retired lead painter at an aerospace company and retired Koch refinery employee

*No response received as of deadline

Paulette Guajardo

• Age: 48
• Years of Corpus Christi residency: 48                           
• Occupation: At-large councilwoman, no additional occupation reported
• Current: City councilwoman at large (elected 2018 and 2016)

Response: I will support a comprehensive infrastructure plan to provide for the construction of new homes that are affordable to families and workers. I will continue to work with the City Manager to streamline the development process, including permitting, and create more user-friendly code. I will also work to enact procedural changes for developers to navigate the process, moving forward development, while ensuring a high-quality home that is affordable to the homebuyer.

At-large candidates

Liz Perez

• Age: 38
• Years of Corpus Christi residency: 39 years
• Occupation: Executive assistant at Herrman & Herrman

Response: As a member of City Council I would look at zoning ordinances and see where in Corpus Christi we could ensure that new homes being built are affordable and based on the AMI (Area Median Income). We could also work alongside the county in building public/private partnerships with local residential developers to buy rundown and no longer livable houses and lots to rebuild affordable houses and stop the gentrification of our low-income neighborhoods.

Mike Pusley

• Age: 69
• Years of Corpus Christi residency: 68 years
• Occupation: Retired, former EOG Resources Inc.

*Response received after deadline

Every year the City and County auction off properties for delinquent taxes.  Those properties could be removed from the tax sale and offered to developers who would agree to either build or reconstruct those properties into affordable housing putting them back on the tax rolls and providing homeownership to families.  As County Commissioner I used this method to do something very similar and create green space in a blighted area of Calallen.

Michael Hunter

• Age: 32
• Years of Corpus Christi residency: 32 years, 10 months
• Occupation: Consultant (no services specified)
• Current: City Councilman at-large

Response: This is a supply and demand issue. We currently have a demand for housing with people locating to our area because of the momentum of jobs being created. At the same time we are short on inventory and prices are going up. The answer is to create policies that allow developers to build and create more housing inventory in our market. Developers need infrastructure, the policies stated in question 1 will help them build more homes

Myron Grossman

• Age: 80
• Years of Corpus Christi residency: 80
• Occupation: Realtor

Response: Affordable housing should start with small starter homes that are built with the latest technology such as AC to cost less by the home owners selling excess electricity back to providers, better roofing materials and so on.There are a great many more ways by using and giving credits to both buyers and sellers for using new technology.

Larry White

• Age: 70
• Years of Corpus Christi residency: 35
• Occupation: Retired engineer

Response: Use Zoning to allow for more apartments, zero lot homes, townhouses, and multi-family units for less expensive housing. Also consider tax incentives to make more housing available. This would counter the rising cost caused by a limited housing supply. The City Council should look at what other cities are doing successfully to address this problem. Raising the minimum wage would help but this is not within the power of the City Council.

John Martinez

• Age: 47
• Years of Corpus Christi residency: 22 years, one month
• Occupation: Attorney

Response: The council should adopt policies that assist first time home buyers and buyers seeking affordable housing. These policies should include resources to locate and acquire funding from all potential sources, as well as assistance in applying for the assistance.

Ricardo Hankerson

• Age: 70
• Years of residency: 36 years, nine months
• Occupation: Retired (unspecified)

*No response received as of deadline

Efrain “Frank” Arriaga Jr.

• Age: 35
• Years of residency: 35 years, eight months
• Occupation: Dental business development and sales

Response: Affordable housing can be addressed by incentivizing builders to develop a variety of housing types through tax abatements and other incentives. These developments should align with an overall master zoning and development plan. Tax Increment Reinvestment Zones can help the city put money back into a specific area that will promote further development by mandating that property taxes are spent where they are collected, and only for approved reasons.

Richard Diaz

• Age: 26
• Years of residency: 26 years, seven months
• Occupation: Warehouse worker

Response: To help mitigate the rising cost of housing, the city should strategically redistrict neglected areas in the city into “mixed use zones” and use tax incentive programs (possibly TIRZ) to get developers to build mixed income housing complexes to help eliminate the property tax burden of lower income families while still offering room for local small business growth and quality higher income housing.

Patricia Pena-Noyola

• Age: 53
• Years of Corpus Christi residency: 53 years, eight months
• Occupation: Federal employee retirement and benefits consultant 

Response: As a former builder for the Affordable Housing program, we need to be proactive in continuing and making the program available to those who qualify.  Part of that qualification is making sure the home meets all standard codes, but we could put an incentive policy in place to make the land affordable for new homes to be built.  This program is a WIN for everyone here, making the American dream possible while increasing our tax

Brian Rosas

• Age: 46
• Years of Corpus Christi residency: 18
• Occupation: Sandblaster operator at Corpus Christi Army Depot
• Former City Council member, District 2

Response: Local governments often impede with excessive regulations and rezoning policies that need to be flexible to allow construction. We need more homes built to answer the housing demand.  By addressing the housing affordability crisis, prices will become more competitive.  Without infrastructure no house can be built. Policies are needed to eliminate “road blocks” for our developers and builders.

Deanna Michelle King

• Age: 50
• Years of Corpus Christi residency: 50
• Occupation: Legal assistant

Response: A person may qualify for a home itself but adding the property taxes to the equation may not fit into their budget. The City needs to lower property taxes and implement more programs to assist first time homeowners.

John Garcia

• Age: 44
• Years of Corpus Christi residency: 5 years, six months
• Occupation: Director of hotel sales and marketing

Response: Corpus Christi must adopt polices that assist in the development of affordable housing and keeps home prices stable. We need to grow our one stop shop for developers to expedite the building process and assist developers to keep their projects moving. We should also convene area builders and experts to gather their input on ways the city can assist in the development of homes at the lowest cost for our residents.

The Caller-Times is offering this election coverage free as a public service. Help support our efforts with a subscription at Caller.com/subscribe.

Kathryn Cargo follows business openings and developments while reporting on impacts of the city government’s decisions.See our subscription options and special offers at Caller.com/subscribe.

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