City seeks feedback from disability community on five-year federal housing plan

The Mayor’s Committee for People with Disabilities heard a briefing last week from the Housing Department, which is seeking input from Austin residents with disabilities to identify the greatest community needs that could be addressed using federal funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development through the 2029 fiscal year.

Housing staff will take feedback through June 5 on the next five-year consolidated plan that will set most of the guidelines for how the city spends the roughly $14 million per year it receives from HUD. The feedback also will be used in helping to shape and fund other city programs related to housing and services for disabled people, which include rental assistance, homebuyer and homeowner assistance, and special needs assistance.

Staff noted that the $70 million forecast for the city from HUD is likely to increase because of rapid population growth in the area and the rising cost of living. Those funds typically include Community Development Block Grants, Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS, HOME Investment Partnerships and Emergency Solutions Grants.

Respondents can also share their experiences and feelings on the most serious impediments to housing in the disabled community, though Chris Duran, a senior research analyst for the Housing Department, said a comprehensive analysis of housing barriers is on hold because of changing guidelines at the federal level.

“We’re in a little bit of a holding pattern as far as embarking on our next big (impediments) document, but in the meantime, we are seeking input and surveying on fair housing issues and experiences,” he said.

The last five-year plan completed in 2019 found the availability of housing affordable to respondents was the greatest need in the disability community. Other top responses included the need for services to prevent homelessness, job training opportunities intended to create living-wage situations, mental health counseling and affordable health care. That plan also identified a substantial portion of the disability community who didn’t trust the city to effectively address their needs.

In response to questions from the committee members about that distrust, engagement specialist Julie Smith said there’s a long history of inaction on the part of the city that needs to be overcome.

“That’s for a variety of reasons, some of them very historical … just the discrimination that has been in our city for many years,” she said. “People who have had bad experiences, whether it be with our department or a different department, we know it doesn’t matter what department people have interacted with, that we are the city and that many people have had negative experiences or been overpromised and underdelivered.”

Committee member Pete Salazar pressed the staff on the need to conduct a comprehensive census of the city’s disabled community to get accurate data on the level of need for assistance programs at all levels.

“We’re charged here to take an assessment with the needs of housing and those things, and obviously Austinites with disabilities is a big section of that. If we don’t do counts with how many Austinites with disabilities we have within the city or Austin proper, how can we have a real number to understand our needs?” he said.

Salazar also asked housing staff for greater clarity on the responsibilities of families who inherit properties that had been enrolled in city disability assistance programs, because of the occasional requirement for the estate to repay the loans to the city.

Committee member Lisa Chang asked staff for regular updates on how funding levels may change among different needs based on political priorities or other factors.

“I’m just wondering how you’re going to be assessing budgets year by year,” she said. “We know that certain issues can get really politicized and then there’s a lot of money thrown at it.”

The Austin Monitor’s work is made possible by donations from the community. Though our reporting covers donors from time to time, we are careful to keep business and editorial efforts separate while maintaining transparency. A complete list of donors is available here, and our code of ethics is explained here.