Travis County Commissioners Court
June 9, 2009,
Item 2
2.
approve resolution to support the application of college houses, inc.
and north american students of cooperation development services for a federal college housing loan.
>> good morning, harvey Davis, manager of the Travis County housing finance corporation.
i'm here with allan robinson and bryan donovan, who are -- here to explain the resolution.
i will also add that -- that the city of Austin, it's on the city's -- similar resolutions on the city's agenda.
for this Thursday, sponsored by three councilmen so they will give a very brief explanation of the agenda if that's okay with you, judge.
>> in lieu of reading the proclamation?
in lieu of reading the resolution or in addition?
>> I'm not anxious to read it.
>> in lieu of
>> [laughter]
>> okay.
>> then welcome.
>> hi.
thank you very much for considering our resolution.
my name is bryan donovan, I'm with the university of Texas intercooperative council.
we are one of two fairly large student cooperative organizations here in Austin.
along with college houses that the resolution is stated for.
and student co-ops have been active in Austin for over 70 years.
and the fund that we are asking the -- the u.s.
department of education to revive was used to do long-term low interest loans to develop affordable housing for students starting back in 1965 and did so up until 1979.
and what we're asking for is for the department of education to rewrite the regulations, to -- to begin doing again long-term low interest loans with -- with housing, dedicated for -- for low income students to be able to attend school.
and we're -- we're making this effort as part of nasco development services, which is a national organization that works to promote and develop student cooperatives.
we've had one successful meeting with -- with the department of education, we're expecting to go back at the end of this month and your resolution and the resolution of the city of Austin will be a big help for -- for gaining support and we're doing similar things in other cities around the country.
where we have cooperatives that are looking to expand.
>> I just wanted to also thank the Travis County housing finance corporation for the taxes and bonds that they helped us get.
we issued $10.85 million for college houses, that allowed us to -- in August to -- to build and open a brand new cooperative with 176 members.
and -- and long term low cost financing makes a huge difference.
for us, what the Travis County housing finance corporation did meant we saved about $4 million in interest over the 30-year term of the bonds.
so this is similar, it's a 3%, 40 year is what the department of education originally did.
so we hope that you support the resolution and help create more affordable housing for students.
>> move approval.
>> second.
>> discussion?
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
>> one of you?
you are obligated to receive this if we do it.
>> thank you so much
>> [laughter]
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, June 9, 2009 2:41 PM