Real estate backs John Whitmire for Houston mayor

Longest-serving member of the Texas Senate has $1.5M in campaign funds

Why Houston Real Estate Pros Support Mayoral Candidate John Whitmire

John Whitmire (right) with Houston Association of Realtors' Cathy Treviño, Houston Building Owners and Managers Association's Bradley Elliott and Sandcastle Homes' Mike Dishberger (Getty, LinkedIn, HAR, Sandcastle Homes)

Brandon Sams

Sep 13, 2023, 5:13 PM

Prominent real estate organizations are throwing their support behind Texas Sen. John Whitmire on his run for mayor of Houston.

Whitmire, a lawyer who has ties to real estate, has snagged the support of the Houston Association of Realtors, Houston Building Owners and Managers Association and the Greater Houston Homebuilders Association.

Whitmire and 14-term U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, both longtime Democrats, have emerged as the two frontrunners, with polls indicating a neck-and-neck race when 14 of the top declared candidates are mentioned. A recent University of Houston survey of likely Houston voters found Whitmire leading the pack with 34 percent support compared with 32 percent for Jackson Lee.

The election will be held on Nov. 7, with 17 declared candidates vying for mayoral office. If no candidate wins 50 percent of the vote, which is a likely outcome given the sheer number of contenders, then the election will go to a runoff between the top two election night performers. Jackson Lee fares worse in polls that put her head-to-head with Whitmire for the runoff election, with 51 percent of likely voters supporting Whitmire, compared to 33 percent backing Jackson Lee.

Lawyer Lee Kaplan has raised the most money for this campaign, but Whitmire also has a $9 million “war chest” from previous campaigns at his disposal.

The Harris County Appraisal District’s property tax assessments are a big political issue for real estate, said Bradley Smith, founder of local residential development company Layne Kelly, who supports Whitmire.

“That is a major concern for everyone that’s in the real estate space with how it adjusts our property taxes,” Smith said.

While the mayor doesn’t have the power to appoint appraisers, taxing units within the county do, including the city of Houston. Appraisal districts wield immense power when it comes to determining property values, and consequently, property taxes. These taxing units, which also include school districts and junior colleges, handpick their representatives. A mayor with a keen interest in real estate matters can use their influence to nudge the taxing units toward selecting board members who align with a specific vision for the county.

Increased appraisal values have caused some friction between homeowners and assessors. Houston City Council unanimously approved a motion in October to lower the city’s tax rate from 55 cents to 53 cents per $100 of taxable value, in hopes of mitigating the increased tax burden of rising appraisal values.

Houston Building Owners and Managers Association, known as Houston BOMA, conducted interviews with mayoral candidates and found Whitmire to be the most convincing, said the organization’s CEO, Bradley Elliot.

Houston BOMA’s board of directors, which includes giants in the Houston real estate scene including Adam Ross, vice president of Hines’ southwest region’s managing services; Janet Shipley, CBRE’s director of property management; Connie O’Murray, JLL’s Houston managing director; and Heather McMillon, Brookfield Properties’ general manager as well as other representatives from top commercial real estate firms, collectively support Whitmire.

“He aligns with our membership on many goals,” Elliot wrote in a statement to The Real Deal. “These concerns extend beyond commercial real estate; they are vital for the well-being of all people in Houston.”

Infrastructure improvements and city finance transparency were some of the key issues on which real estate is hoping to see movement. Infrastructure improvements in Houston have been slow to start (and finish), and real estate sees Whitmire as a likely answer to this developmental malaise.

“[Whitmire’s] vision for improvement of infrastructure is among those issues vital to our industry’s ability to continue to provide attainable housing in Houston,” said Mike Dishberger, GHBA president and owner of Sandcastle Homes.

Crime is a classic campaign point for Whitmire, who is the longest-serving Texas senator. And the topic is top of many minds in real estate.

Research has shown that property values increase in an area by nearly one percent for every 10 percent drop in violent crime. This reverberates beyond the residential market into the retail sector as locations in areas perceived as dangerous are more likely to experience decreased foot traffic, which in turn has an inverse relationship with crime.

“Some of these high-value neighborhoods have proximity to the interstate, and security is a major concern. From a developer’s perspective, one of the primary features is around home security, surveillance and accessibility to HPD or the local constables,” said Smith. “And it’s not about excluding people from being around, it’s about having people that aren’t in your neighborhood patrolling and casing the neighborhoods…they’re just stealing every weekend around town and it’s gotten out of control. “

However, crime has been on a steady decline in 2023. In Houston, the crime rate was down 6 percent year-over-year as of July 31. Homicides were down 23 percent while violent crime in general saw a 9 percent dip.

Houston