Developers who want a property tax exemption for an apartment or rental project in McKinney would face a tougher test under a revised Affordable Housing Scorecard the City Council takes up Tuesday, Nov. 3.
The scorecard is the yardstick the McKinney Housing Finance Corporation, the McKinney Housing Authority and the McKinney Public Facility Corporation use when a rental project asks to partner with one of them for a tax exemption. Council members will discuss the changes at their 3 p.m. work session and are scheduled to vote on a resolution adopting them at the 6 p.m. regular meeting.
The housing finance corporation already approved the update on Oct. 9, according to the staff report.
What would change
The biggest shift is a new minimum on what tenants get back. The current scorecard gives extra credit to projects that deliver more than $1 in rent savings for each $1 of McKinney tax exemptions, but sets no floor. The update would disqualify any project that produces less than 50 cents in rent savings for every $1 of total tax exemptions over 10 years.
Other proposed changes:
- Deepest affordability: at least 10% of units would have to be set aside for households at 30% of area median income, up from 5%.
- Housing type: single-family rentals would earn the most points, and multifamily projects fewer, as staff try to steer partnerships toward single-family homes. Apartment projects whose affordable units lack the same finishes, equipment or access as market-rate units would be disqualified.
- Location: projects on the west side would still score higher, but location would count for less. The new grid also gives no location points to a project on the east side within a mile of other affordable housing that won a tax exemption in the past three years.
- Project type: buying a property without making improvements would no longer qualify, and the category would carry fewer points overall, though rehabilitation of older buildings would still score highest.
The rule that at least half of a project's units be offered at affordable rates would not change, nor would the scoring for one-time and recurring payments to the granting entity.
