The Success of the San Antonio Real Estate Community Development Summit

The city of San Antonio recently hosted the 2008 Community Development Summit entitled “Lessons from the Past – Opportunities for a Sustainable Future.”

The summit, which took place on September 15, 16 and 17 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, focused on all areas of building and maintaining the local economy via education, reinvestment and the coordination of city resources.

Some of the activities of the summit included panel discussions, presentations, tours and training, all of which focused on reinvestment planning, leveraging private sector investment and coordinating city resources.

Some of the attendees of this summit included housing developers, financial lenders, affordable housing providers, community development organizations, neighborhood associations and average citizens.

Some of the seminars, presentations and sessions focused on:

• Foreclosure prediction and prevention
• School-based financial education programs - The private sector can impact the communities that they serve by educating children and young adults on basic money management, banking, savings, credit and loans. Knowledge of basic finance is vital to everybody’s success.
• Consumer credit - Education programs and personal counseling in money management, debt management, and comprehensive housing counseling are needed within a community. Improving general financial knowledge within the community can fight credit and foreclosure crises, thereby improving the performance of the economy.
• Transportation programs
• Integrating schools and universities into sustainable communities
• Community development networks and intermediaries
• Community land trusts and long-term affordability - Community Land Trusts are member based non-profit organizations that are used to provide access to affordable land and housing, promote long-term community involvement, and to preserve affordability of housing by protecting a neighborhood against gentrification and real estate speculation.
• Sustainable “green” building - Building green homes has long-term benefits for the occupants, the surrounding community, and the environment that we all share. Making green building affordable must involve a shared commitment and active partnership among neighborhood organizations, developers, lenders, and local government.
• Coordinating city resources
• Benefits of Complete Streets: Public Health and Market Value
• Rapid Transit Success Stories
• Sustainable Neighborhoods through Low Impact Development
• The Practical Challenges of Infill Development - Infill development can provide affordable housing, neighborhood revitalization and reinvestment, and walkable, transit-oriented communities. Many external factors, such as the context of the real estate market, the community, the economy, and the government can affect the feasibility of beneficial infill development.
• Housing and Transportation: Affordability Index in San Antonio
• Restoring and Maintaining Community Pride - The Extreme Neighborhood Sweep Program is a comprehensive effort of City services coordinated to provide education and services from various partner developments. Each department brings to the table certain services and information that residents can utilize to beautify their neighborhood and improve their quality of life.
• Community Indicators Project: Assess quality of life
• Green Spaces for Sustainable Neighborhoods
• Sustainable Development for Commercial Buildings
• Alternative Lending Practices
• Restoring prosperity through Main Street Partnership
• Preservation of affordable housing
• Tax credits in redevelopment - Tax Credits assist with economic revitalization and community development through investment by utilizing Historic Preservation Tax Credits, New Market Tax Credits, and Low Income Housing Tax Credits.
• New redevelopment trends
• Neighborhood associations in community development
• New trends in urban development
• Current preservation policies and efforts for historic building - Historic preservation strategies such as historic designation, tax credits, and revolving loans can increase tourism, commercial property values, and encourage additional neighborhood investment. Evaluate City codes in such areas as building, fire, and zoning to support historic preservation and adaptive reuse.

San Antonio real estate continues to grow in historical value, and these summits are a testament to the strong community values that exist in this great area.