Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Staff Housing topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Board tables Upward Communities's staff-housing lease after detailed questioning
Summary
Upward Communities proposed privately funded single-family staff housing for LHISD employees; trustees pressed developers on financing, LUEs, tax consequences and selection processes, then voted to table the lease pending further due diligence.
A private developer proposed to build and lease single-family homes for Liberty Hill ISD staff, promising subsidized rents, recruitment and retention benefits, and a master-lease structure that would reserve units for district employees.
Upward Communities representatives Jason Roberts and Daniel Guerrero told the board the project is privately financed, requires no district subsidy, and would be dedicated to school staff under a long-term master lease. Roberts said the model has delivered significant retention improvements in other districts, citing examples in Hays and Lockhart ISDs and claiming strong demand from employees.
Trustees and staff raised technical and fiscal questions during a lengthy Q&A: how many units would be feasible given limited water and sewer entitlements (LUEs) in parts of Liberty Hill; whether dedicating land and units to the district would remove future taxable value from the district's tax base; who would manage tenant selection and whether the district would retain authority to prioritize certain staff groups; and what protections would exist if the developer changed ownership or failed to maintain the property.
Upward acknowledged those risks and presented preliminary answers: the developer said it would acquire land with available entitlements where possible, pre-lease units to district staff, operate under a long-term master lease (40 years in examples shown), and manage maintenance and operations; they said property taxes on a fully district-leased community would not generate typical local property-tax revenue but argued staff savings and retention gains justify considering the approach.
After closed-session deliberations, the board voted to table the lease agreement and asked the superintendent to continue due diligence. Trustees said they want more detailed financial modeling, site-specific feasibility (including water/sewer/LUE availability), legal analysis of tax and lease terms, and a clearer allocation process for which employees would receive housing priorities.
What trustees asked for next: additional documentation on the developer's financing and ownership structure, examples of executed leases and performance data from other districts, a plain-language explanation of how a district master-lease would affect local property tax revenues, and proposed guardrails for selection and management of occupants.
