More low-income housing may be coming to Port Arthur through state Harvey disaster funding, which is leaving some local leaders hopeful, some with questions and some rejecting the idea.

The Port Arthur Housing Authority board of commissioners met earlier this week to discuss three possible locations where the Harvey-linked construction could be located. They include:

• Bellbrook Estates off of Ray Avenue, which is in the Port Acres area
• Edison Square in the 3500 block of 12^th Street
• About nine acres of land on Ninth Avenue behind the city’s recreation center.

PAHA Executive Director Seledonio “Cele” Quesada said requests for qualifications for developers went out on June 6 and the PAHA’s deadline to submit an application is Oct. 22.

Vice chairman Robert Reid offered a set of questions, first focusing on the Port Acres area project.

There are 100, three-bedroom, single-family homes in that area with room for more. Of the 100, all of the homes are being leased rather than offered to families working toward home ownership.

Reid asked why they are considering filling in the remaining 149 lots at this time.

Quesdada explained that originally there weren’t enough funds to complete the total 249 homes when construction began. The cost for construction about 10 years ago was about $150,000 per unit.

“If we build this we will have 249 homes leased and not bought for ownership?” Reid asked.

Quesada said all of the applicants at Bellbrook were canvassed and learned there was a challenge in what is deemed “affordable.” In addition, families face other problems, such as financing and credit issues.

The Edison Square project, if chosen, would have to complete construction in the fourth quadrant of the land with 13 duplexes. Edison Square is a senior housing complex. The Ninth Avenue area project could be single-family homes.

Reid asked what led Quesada to believe there is a need for more single-family homes.

“Generally speaking, a lot of units were lost in Harvey and single-family homes, there is a need for them again,” Quesada said.

Reid said he would be hesitant to vote on the grant application issue without some sort of data showing the need, in that he wants to make an informed decision.

“We continue to struggle to find units,” Quesada said. “We took applications (Housing Choice Voucher Program) and had a limit of 2,000. We met that in an hour and 15 minutes. We opened applications at 8 and closed at 9:15. The need is huge.”

Commissioner Melvin Getwood said the city is getting close to being landlocked and asked Quesdada if he is aware of any independent, comprehensive studies. He learned the city performs a consolidated plan update on an annual basis that covers various topics including housing and other needs in the city.

Reid brought the discussion back around saying he had great empathy for Port Arthur citizens who were affected by Harvey but said the board can’t assume all of the displaced citizens will come back and populate these homes. His biggest concern, he said, is that the new homes would draw in people from outside Port Arthur to live in 149 new homes in Bellbrook Estates.

Chairman Clonie Ambroise brought up another issue at hand — the city’s population.

“2020 is coming up,” Ambroise said referring to the census count. “And we can’t afford to go under 50,000. I would hate to be in a position to receive the grant and not be able to use it.”

Mayor Derrick Freeman said he was aware of PAHA’s discussion of applying for the funding and constructing more low-income homes.

“We are not going to be building more low- to moderate-income housing,” Freeman said. “I think we are two to three times the state average (for low- to moderate-income housing) at this time.”

The issue could be seen as a double-edged sword. Harvey led to the loss of thousands of residents and if the population dips below 50,000 then the city would not be eligible for certain federal funding.

Freeman instead wants to look to the future rather than building more low-income homes.

“We need to look at ways to diversify our economy,” he said, adding that job-training programs would be a good start. “I know there is a demand for low-income housing, within an hour-and-a-half the Housing Authority received 2,000 applications. We understand from a city’s standpoint there needs to be the opportunity for citizens to buy new homes at fair market value in the city.”

The Texas General Land Office is administering the Affordable Rental Housing Program, which provides a total of $250 million for the rehabilitation, reconstruction and construction of affordable multi-housing projects in areas impacted by Hurricane Harvey. A total allocation of $61 million is available for the South East Texas Regional Planning Commission area, which consists of Jefferson, Orange and Hardin counties. The maximum award for any applicant/development is $25 million, according to information from the GLO.

No decision was made at the meeting.