BEAUMONT, Texas — More low-income housing will soon be popping up across Beaumont, as council members recently voted to allow new rules that would put these put these homes closer to everyday amenities.
Community Service Manager for the City of Beaumont, Jes Prince, says there's a great need for affordable single-family homes in the city.
"We're not exactly homeless right now, but we know the price of the apartment goes up every year," said Wilbert Chatlin Sr.
After five years of renting in China, Texas, a fixed income and fear of inflation brought Chatlin to the Beaumont Housing Authority.
"It just keeps going up, so we're trying to get some low-income housing that we can afford, and we're both on social security," said Chatlin.
Low-income housing caps rent based on income.
"We get a lot of calls on a weekly basis, just in general regarding the availability of affordable housing. Affordable housing is something that is harder, and harder for everyone to maintain," said Jes Prince.
In anticipation of building more homes, The City of Beaumont developed a new scoring criteria for where they can go.
"We are often approached by developers of affordable housing here at the city for support with their state applications. We wanted to create a metric that would incentivize developers to offer more amenities and proximity to amenities to our residents," said Prince.
Contractors get more points if the homes are built less than a quarter mile from a medical clinic, day care, senior care, public park, grocery store, and school's.
"People need to be where they know that they can be able to get the kids to school without worrying about, 'hey I got to buy some gas' and I don't have the money'. Or going to the store to buy food for their family, 'hey I don't have an enough money to drive there. I don't have a vehicle,'" said Chatlin.
For the city it's all about peoples well being.
"That is going to give you a greater quality of life overall, and that's really a goal for our housing division," said Prince.
Contractors interested in receiving city support to build low-income housing need to apply thought the city by December 1.