Chairman Lucio and senators:

My name is Amelia Adams and I am a community planner with the nonprofit

organization Texas Housers. We have offices in several cities across the state including
an office here in the Rio Grande Valley in Edinburg. My colleague Josue Ramirez, our
Rio Grande Valley co-director can expand upon my comments and answer your
questions.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify here today on affordable housing and regulatory
issues.

Today I will illustrate our thoughts on how to expand the availability of affordable
housing in quality communities in the state, and speak specifically about South Texas.
Texas Housers has worked closely with other community partners to expand the
availability of affordable housing for Texans with modest means since the 1980s.

We have recently completed an in-depth assessment of the affordable housing and

community development challenges in the Valley which I have provided you a copy of
today. I have also included some recommendations for state action from this study.

The lack of affordable housing within incorporated areas has produced a proliferation of
colonias. Our report documents the political and regulatory factors that have produced
the housing challenges that South Texas faces today. I won’t be able to go into detail
but I wanted to sketch out the major problems and some proposed solutions.

1) providing adequate public infrastructure;

2) addressing critical public safety issues;

3) environmental health problems;

4) housing affordability and substandard housing conditions; and

5) addressing the area's vulnerability to disaster.

While it is important to minimize unnecessary regulation, it is also important to

recognize that the historically unregulated approach to development in low-income
communities in South Texas has produced disastrous results both for low-income
families who were consigned to live in dangerous and substandard conditions and for
the region as a whole which is saddled with the economic and social consequences of
sprawling substandard neighborhoods.
First, I’ll focus on public infrastructure. For many years, subdivision developers failed to
provide potable water, proper wastewater disposal, paved streets, essential
infrastructure and storm water collection in colonias. As people moved into these
subdivisions, it became apparent that the public had to step in to provide basic,
essential infrastructure at public expense. Repeated flooding that occurs in more than
100 colonias in this region that were not provided with any basic engineered storm
water drainage system at the time the subdivision was platted. We have worked with
our local partners over the past several years in cooperation with the Texas Water
Development Board to identify and prioritize colonias that desperately need state and
local funding to prevent repeated flooding.

The second major challenge is about public safety. Residents of colonias have been
speaking out for years about the need for public lighting so their children are not forced
to wait for school buses in the dark, and the security that public lighting provides which
can prevent crime and car accidents.

There are also numerous environmental health concerns in the area. My colleague
Josue Ramirez will share with you two examples: an EPA Superfund site that exposes
families here to cancer-causing PCBs, and an antiquated municipal sewage lagoon
system built adjacent to the homes of colonia residents. Basic land-use controls and
zoning are absolutely essential to separate hazardous operations from people’s homes.

Housing affordability and conditions are the fourth major problem. The state has acted
appropriately to reduce contract-for-deed land sales fraud in this region. We strongly
support innovative models for affordable housing and finance like the Mi Casita program
of the Brownsville Community Development Corporation. Many low-income households
purchase homes or lots outside of urban areas, away from areas where there are
protective habitability codes. We have long supported Sen. Lucio's efforts to provide
counties with the authority to establish and enforce basic residential habitability codes.
We also strongly advocate that incorporated areas make available locations
appropriately zoned and affordable for housing people with modest means. South
Texas is an object lesson for the negative results that occur when low income people
are excluded from affordable housing in cities and forced to live in unregulated
subdivisions in unincorporated areas.

Finally, this portion of South Texas is very vulnerable to natural disasters. The area has
repeatedly been devastated with flooding and wind damage associated with tropical
storms and hurricanes. We must plan for the inevitable disaster. Yet our state makes
this impossible. We strongly support Sen. Lucio’s efforts over the past several sessions
to enact legislation giving counties and cities the opportunity to engage in pre-disaster
planning and have those plans considered and pre-approved by state government. In
2017 this was SB 1673. Had this farsighted legislation been enacted during any of the
past three sessions in which it was considered, Texas would be much further down the
road today in recovering from Hurricane Harvey. The RAPIDO housing program is one
excellent example of a pre-disaster plan solution that could reduce the recovery period
by many months and save taxpayers many millions of dollars. Our organization raised
private dollars to demonstrate this program in Houston. The crew is breaking ground on
this home today.

In closing, I would like to reiterate that the lack of planning and appropriate regulations,
as demonstrated far too often in South Texas, has not resulted in decent affordable
housing and quality neighborhoods. Fortunately, there’s something the state can do.
Texas can take a proactive approach and plan for development, invest in the needs of
Texans and ensure that Texans have the opportunity to live in a community that gives
them a healthy foundation and chance to thrive.