MySanAntonio tells us the western edge of the Eagle Ford Shale near Interstate 35 south of San Antonio is drawing workers to the drilling fields where an additional 7,900 workers will be needed by 2025, but housing remains a problem. Banks are generally reluctant to lend money for rural housing developments, and are just as reluctant to provide funding for infrastructure for modular man camps or for RV sites. Credit is already tight, and lenders in Texas who have gone through energy booms and busts worry that no one will be buying into the housing in five years. Butch Alalnis of Cotulla Development has 33 acres in Cotulla, TX with a man camp and an RV park and has sold land to three hotels, two restaurants, and an apartment complex using private funding. As MHProNews.com has learned, grant money is available, but Alanis did not want to wait for up to two years for assistance. Azza Kamal, of the University of Texas at San Antonio’s Center for Urban and Regional Planning Research says, “There needs to be more family-oriented developments, where maybe there are things like pools or playgrounds included. Now there’s no sense of community, no phone reception. It can be expensive and difficult to buy groceries.”
(Photo credit: Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News—Jose Mojica works on a man camp near Pearsall, TX.)
