Laredo seeks federal funds to renovate ‘Southern Hotel’ as affordable housing

LAREDO, Tex. (KGNS) - The property known as ‘The Southern Hotel’ has belonged to the city of Laredo for a number of years. There have been several studies done to see what the building can be used for. The best fit, city officials said, is affordable housing.

To do so, the Community Development Department requested a loan from the federal government, specifically, the Department of Housing and Urban Development. With those funds, the building can be renovated to create 24 affordable living units.

Tina Martinez, with the local department, explained how people can go about applying for this type of housing. ”Within our Community Development Department, we do have the Municipal Housing Division. Municipal Housing already owns and operates 600 units for the city of Laredo. So, this will be in addition to their inventory. We operate, maintain, and manage all these housing units. If anybody is interested, you can go talk to the Municipal Housing Division. You can start putting yourself on waiting lists for any of the other units, and in the future, we will open. We do not have a waiting list open yet for this one, but we will in the future,” said Martinez.

Due to federal constraints, 13 of those units will have to be reserved for low-income families.

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