GEORGETOWN — A national task force of county leaders created to address housing affordability and stability has tagged Williamson County Judge Bill Gravell to join the action.
Gravell, who was recently elected to his second term as county judge, cited the invitation as an opportunity to learn what’s working well in other places and apply it to the county.
“With a national task force, we are going to look at the affordability of housing across America and share best practices. We’re going to bring back some of those concepts from across the country and work cooperatively in bringing them to the county,” he said.
Gravell is one of 30 county leaders from across the United States to be appointed to the National Association of Counties (NACo) Housing Task Force.
According to a written statement, the group will identify county-led solutions and innovations for addressing America’s housing affordability and stability crisis.
“Counties are on the front lines of responding to the housing crisis,” NACo President Denise Winfrey said in a written statement.
“Stable, quality housing is the foundation for better health, safety, education, a strong workforce, improved financial wellness, and lower demands on the social safety net.
NACo’s Housing Task Force is committed to meeting the moment and addressing our residents’ housing needs.”
In Taylor, Hutto and surrounding cities, a combination of workers drawn to new jobs and the overflow from Austin’s population surge strain the available living accommodations.
The shortages lead to an unbalanced market locally. The Texas Real Estate Research Center lists a balanced housing market as having between six and 6.5 months of housing inventory available.
“In April of 2022 before the inflation rates rose, the months of inventory in Hutto was at 0.5 and Taylor was at 0.7,” said Michaela Potts, communications and events manager for Williamson County Board of Realtors.
While the market has stabilized some since then, NACo cites supply chain disruptions, increased demand for short-term rentals, land costs and labor shortages as reasons locally affordable homes are still an endangered species.
“When we live in an area where law enforcement and fire fighters and teachers can’t afford to live here, we have to figure out how to make this work because that’s the backbone of our community,” Gravell said.
Workforce housing can take many forms.
Tiny house communities have sprung up across the nation. In nearby Manor, part of an apartment complex was leased by the local school district to house teachers who were recruited from out of country. Gravell gave an example of a Los Angeles school district that purchased land and built condos to lease to teachers. Since the district-owned property is exempt from property tax, it’s an affordable option for teachers to live near their schools.
Finding solutions is what the task force was created for, and most of those solutions will require creative cooperation between the county and cities. Some areas where the counties can play a leading role, according to NACo, include setting tax policies, building permits, code enforcement, land use, zoning and infrastructure support.
“We’re going to have to be proactive to decrease the rate of property taxes and housing valuations,” Gravell said. “Not too different than what we’ve done during snowstorms and tornadoes, during COVID.
We learn how to work together.”
Some portions of this story were previously reported in the East Wilco Insider.
