San Antonio panel reviews SHIP refresh and HUD consolidated plan, staff outline federal allocations and deadlines

Veronica Garcia, director for the Neighborhood and Housing Services Department, told the Planning and Community Development Committee on June 23 that the SHIP refresh is intended to update — not rewrite — the city’s Strategic Housing Implementation Plan (SHIP), which aims to create and preserve more than 28,000 homes through 2031. “The SHIP is a plan to create and preserve over 28,000 homes, through 2031,” Garcia said.

The consolidated-plan briefing that followed, presented by Veronica Gonzalez, assistant director with Neighborhood and Housing Services, laid out how the city intends to program four HUD entitlement grants (CDBG, HOME, HOPWA and ESG) and related program income for fiscal year 2027. Gonzalez described a proposed FY27 budget (including program income) of about $23,800,000 and said staff are proposing three priority areas: (1) creating and preserving affordable housing, (2) supportive services for special populations and people experiencing homelessness, and (3) neighborhood revitalization including streets and sidewalks.

Why it matters: The consolidated plan and annual action plan set priorities that determine how federal entitlement dollars are spent locally and are tied to firm HUD timelines. Gonzalez told the committee the draft documents will be posted July 6 for public review and that the public-comment period is open through Aug. 5. She also emphasized the HUD submission deadline: “The city must submit both plans to HUD by August 16. This is a non negotiable federal deadline,” Gonzalez said.

Details and funding breakdowns: Gonzalez and Garcia outlined the staff proposals that will shape the FY27 action plan:
- Proposed investment across CDBG and HOME for affordable housing creation and preservation: $11,100,000. Gonzalez said the federal portion for major home rehab is $3,800,000 and the total proposed funding level for major rehab (federal plus local) is $6,900,000.
- Affordable housing development (gap funds): $6,200,000.
- Down-payment assistance: up to $30,000 per household for first-time homebuyers.
- Supportive services (CDBG, ESG and HOPWA combined): $6,000,000; Gonzalez said ESG contributes $1,200,000 and HOPWA $3,500,000.
- Neighborhood revitalization (CDBG): $3,400,000, primarily for streets and sidewalks projects that benefit low- and moderate-income neighborhoods.

Staff emphasized constraints and trade-offs. Garcia and Gonzalez noted that some HOME and CDBG activities require environmental review and federal regulatory compliance, which can slow timelines. Garcia also highlighted rising construction and rehabilitation costs — and capacity limits among nonprofit partners — as reasons some SHIP categories (notably home-rehab goals) are behind schedule. “We are at 41% of the way to our SHIP goal,” Garcia said, and then urged the committee to consider readjusting targets for categories where capacity or costs make the original goals unrealistic.

Follow-ups and next steps: Staff said they will post drafts on July 6, continue community engagement through early August, provide district-level breakdowns and AMI (area median income) filters on the SHIP dashboard, and return to the committee with recommended SHIP adjustments in August ahead of a final submittal to council. Staff noted the plan will go to city council for consideration in August and must be submitted to HUD in mid-August; the record contains two close but different council dates mentioned by staff, which staff have said they will clarify before the final package is delivered to council.

What the committee asked for: Council members requested detailed AMI-level breakdowns for production and preservation goals, district-specific commitment lists, clearer trade-off scenarios showing how additional bond or general-fund investments would change outcomes (for example, how many more preservation units $10 million would buy), and clarified funding sources for fee waivers and gap funding. Staff committed to sharing the requested dashboards and to meeting with councilmembers individually before the August briefing.

The committee did not take any formal votes on the SHIP refresh or the consolidated plan; staff will bring updated recommendations and the final action plan back to the committee and to council according to the timeline described by staff.