Housing and Planning Committee recommends City Council prioritize housing for seniors and people with disabilities

City Council’s Housing and Planning Committee voted Tuesday to recommend that Council adopt a resolution to explore prioritizing city-owned land for the development of housing for seniors and people with disabilities. The recommendation included exploring cooperative housing and community land trusts and prioritizing sites with access to public transit corridors, specifically within equitable transit-oriented developments (ETODs). 

“We’ve been working for a long time to get senior housing co-ops here in the Austin area to help those of us that want to live in a shared facility to help support each other,” said Carol Lilly with the Boomers Collaborative Foundation. “We are especially interested in cooperative housing in Austin’s new ETODs since many of us no longer drive. … It would be a great benefit to have transportation nearby.” 

The resolution noted that within the Austin-Round Rock region, 38 percent of people 65 and older are housing cost burdened (meaning they spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing), and 85 percent of older adults cannot afford assisted living. Further, it noted that more than 20 percent of Americans ages 65 and older “are at risk of becoming ‘elder orphans,’ meaning they have no family available to support them as they age.” 

As the aging population grows, the need for services grows in tandem. The resolution seeks to leverage shared-equity housing to offer affordability, community and access for Austin’s seniors and people with disabilities, all at a significantly lower cost than traditional income-restricted affordable housing models.

By recommending that housing developments prioritize sites in walkable, mixed-use ETODs, the resolution also directly addresses the issue of mobility, aiming to strengthen access to community, businesses and services for seniors and people with disabilities. 

“I think it’s moments like this that really help to demonstrate how the voice and ideas of our community can be woven directly into city policy,” said Chair Natasha Harper-Madison, thanking the community and the Planning Commission for bringing forth the resolution. “I think this is a really important opportunity for us to be really creative with our housing needs and fulfilling those.” 

“I support the co-ops, especially for seniors, and having them near transit,” said Council Member Zo Qadri. “My hope is that we can better learn about the trade-offs of achieving the Planning Commission’s recommendation and get real options to secure the capacity of co-ops and senior co-ops like via financing, resident capacity building and part of a community benefit menu.” 

The recommendation passed with a unanimous vote and will next be taken up by City Council. 

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