LaredoBuzz.Com

Courtesy Noraida Negron,

Laredo, Texas – The City of Laredo is a dynamic, fast-growing, improving city that is raising incomes, adding jobs and housing at a rapid pace. Laredo is North America’s number one land port and best place to start a business, according to wallethub.com, the financial services firm.

Wallethub, however, has also come out with yet another survey that calls Laredo one of the neediest cities in the country based on what it calls deficiencies in affordable housing, health care and, other areas. “Wallethub regularly conducts surveys and reaches conclusions via a press release to the media around the country, says Mayor Pete Saenz, but City of Laredo leaders know firsthand and understand these issues in depth, and we are diligently working in improving matters and have made significant progress in addressing these important challenges.”

For example, through the use of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds, the city initiates projects to assist the low-income communities with housing projects which includes:

· Southern Hotel Rehabilitation Affordable Rental Housing – The project entails the design and rehabilitation of an existing downtown vacant building into a mixed income affordable rental complex of about 22 units. The city will be applying for a HUD section 108 Loan for the cost of construction.

· 820 Convent Martha C. Narvaez City Hall Apartments – The project entails the design and rehabilitation/conversion of an existing vacant building into an elderly unassisted affordable rental complex of 15 units to be available to low-income elderly individuals. Currently the project is completed and 100% occupied.

Furthermore, the Community Development department worked towards developing programs and projects to address the city’s needs during the pandemic such as the Rental Assistance Program with a grant amount of $17 million. Currently, the program has assisted 544 households and more are in the process of getting approved.

The City of Laredo currently assists elderly households with HOME funds ($374,926.50) through the Tenant-Based Rental Assistance (TBRA) Program. This program assists up to 100 qualified elderly households with subsidized rental assistance within the downtown area and currently has 92 elderly individuals on the waiting list. The City also has designated four Rental Housing Projects, with a total of 26 units, to assist low-income elderly households and currently has 87 elderly individuals on the waiting list. As for the Down Payment Assistance Program, the City assisted 7 homebuyers with $210,000 of assistance.

Upcoming Proposed Projects:

· Corner of Market St. and Sanders Ave. – New Construction of affordable rental units.

· 302 San Enrique Ave. – Acquisition and rehabilitation of affordable rental units

The City of Laredo has also issued more permits for new single-family home units in 2021 than any other year. The city issued 1,477 permits this year in 11 months, compared to last year’s 1,274 new house permits and 1,281 in 2019. While Laredo’s single-family home median sales price point is at an all-time high of $210,000 that’s $100,000 below Texas median price of $310,000, according to Texas Realtors 2021 three-quarter report. Furthermore, nearly 40 percent of home sales in Laredo are between the one hundred to two hundred thousand dollar mark, which is a larger portion of the affordable local housing market, than for example San Antonio, where the median price for a home is $295,000. Lastly, from 2010-2019, Laredo’s median household income grew by 60 percent to $57,478 and the poverty rate dropped from more than 30 percent to 19.5 percent in 2019, that’s according to the U.S. Census reporter.

The recent Wallethub study states that Laredo ranks second in the nation in the number of people who are uninsured. The City of Laredo Health Department has worked diligently to serve our community with low cost or free medical services. The Medicaid 1115 Waiver helps cover under/uninsured populations that seek help at the Laredo Health Department and many other healthcare organizations in our community. The city has participated in this program for the past 10 years, ensuring funding is brought to our community to support access to quality care. In turn, the Laredo Health Department hires nurses, family nurse practitioners, physician assistants and contracts with physicians to provide free to low-cost services. To decentralize services and ensure health quality in our community, the Laredo Health Department recently obtained a mobile health clinic that allows them to mobilize their services, in our community, emphasizing the prevention, promotion, and protection against COVID-19.