Within Houston’s Inner Loop the demand for affordable housing is such that mixed-income communities have lengthy waiting lists.
Avenue Terrace, a 144-unit, Near Northside property, is one of these communities. Located just north of downtown, the apartment complex is 100 percent occupied and said to have a waitlist of three to six months depending on unit type.
“Currently, we have long waiting lists on many of our developments,” said Mary Lawler, executive director of Avenue Community Development Corp (Avenue CDC).
The nonprofit developer completed Avenue Terrace in 2011 and has developed a total of 133 single-family homes and 594 affordable rental units within Houston’s Inner Loop.
[Inman Slideshow]
Roughly 85 percent of Avenue Terrace’s units are subsidized apartments, with low-income renters paying anywhere from $343 to $872 a month.
According to Rent Jungle, one-bedroom apartments within 10 miles of downtown Houston rented for an average of $1,317 in October. The average rent for a two-bedroom apartment came in at $1,798.
Adjacent to Avenue Terrace, the nonprofit developer is currently building 95 single-family homes, dubbed Avenue Place. At least 50 of the 95 homes are complete, with sales prices ranging from $194,000 to $254,000. Some of the three- and four-bedroom homes that have sold were limited to households at or below 80 percent or 120 percent of the area’s median income.
These sales prices are below Houston’s average and median sales prices. According to the Houston Association of Realtors, the median price of a home sold in November was $200,000. The average sales price was $262,064.
Avenue CDC will also complete 48 mixed-income apartments next to Avenue Place by mid-2016.
Another developer, Zieben Group, is also busy north of downtown. The firm plans to build a 350-unit, mixed-income complex on a portion of the 45-acre Hardy Yards site. Construction will commence this coming spring, with 179 of the units targeting renters with annual incomes ranging between $35,000 and $45,000.
