Bexar County, TX

Housing | 2025

Elevating understanding of the prevalence of tax foreclosures and their drivers to reduce foreclosures and prevent displacement.

Because Texas has no income tax, property taxes are a major source of funding for schools, public services, and infrastructure. As people with higher incomes have moved into Bexar County and investor activity has spiked, a tightening housing market and rising property values have driven a sharp increase in property tax bills without a parallel increase in wealth for long-time residents. Neighborhood revitalization and gentrification are also drivers of rising property values and tax valuations. Tax foreclosures have become common and disproportionately clustered in low- and moderate-income areas of Bexar County, where properties are more likely to be owned free and clear. Community Information Now seeks to use mixed methods to understand how common tax foreclosures are, the amount of delinquent taxes owed by owners who lose their properties, and the drivers of tax foreclosure to inform practitioners and policymakers in crafting strategies to prevent tax foreclosure.

Community Information Now will generate a centralized tax foreclosure database for Bexar County by obtaining five years of local property tax foreclosure auction listings. Staff will also conduct focus groups with community members who have experienced or are at risk of tax foreclosure to understand causes and potential preventative measures. Data will be interpreted with the support of an advisory board of residents, landlords, housing services providers, and other local stakeholders. Finally, the project team plans to conduct a landscape scan to learn what other US cities are doing to prevent tax foreclosure.

The City of San Antonio Neighborhood and Housing Services Department will use the data to guide actions related to tax foreclosure in its Strategic Housing Implementation Plan. Additionally, the project will inform ESTAR West, a San Antonio initiative focused on stabilizing and accelerating equitable recovery of Latino small businesses. ESTAR West also aims to prevent resident displacement and will use project results to educate the community about the causes of tax foreclosure and create programs to support vulnerable homeowners in the Westside neighborhood. Through this project, Community Information Now will bring attention to the local drivers of tax foreclosures in San Antonio and Bexar County and inform the development of policy and programmatic strategies to prevent and reduce tax foreclosures.