Preservation project promises housing affordability in S.A.

October 29, 2020

A UTSA team of researchers is working to preserve the legacy of some culturally significant home properties in San Antonio because they could also help alleviate the local housing affordability crisis. There is an estimated 33,000 of these houses, each 1,000 square feet or smaller, built in the city prior to 1960.

The team, led by Roger Enriquez, executive director of UTSA’s Westside Community Partnerships and an associate professor of criminal justice in the College for Health, Community and Policy, in collaboration with Angela Lombardi, an associate professor in the Department of Architecture, will help to demonstrate that these so-called shotgun houses can be rehabbed at an affordable cost using a mix of funding sources. The team is working under the direction of District 5 City Councilwoman Shirley Gonzales.

Lombardi and Enriquez have worked to identify and produce an inventory of the shotgun houses. Lombardi noted that shotgun houses are especially prevalent on San Antonio’s West Side, where a preliminary inventory by the city’s Office of Historic Preservation and UTSA has identified more than 500 units.

Read the full story »