With housing project applicants angling for portions of the city’s coming $250 million in general obligation bonds for affordable housing, city leaders charged with finding the right mix of new units are starting to wrestle with questions of how much new affordable housing should cost and where those units need to go. A recent meeting […]
Housing
Posted inHousing
A big problem for low-income homeowners: septic tanks
For the most part, living in rural Travis County is cheaper than living in the city of Austin. Land values, property taxes and rents are all significantly lower. Sewage, however, often costs significantly more. The problems and costs associated with aging septic tanks is such a common problem that in recent years Travis County has […]
Posted inHousing
County celebrates major renovations of affordable housing communities
The Housing Authority of Travis County hosted a ribbon-cutting celebration Thursday morning to honor the completion of the $10.4 million rehabilitation of two of its affordable housing communities. The project involved improvements to 51 units at Alexander Oaks in Oak Hill and 24 units at Summit Oaks Apartments in Northwest Austin. The units range from […]
Posted inHousing
Lessons for Austin abound in cities where crises produced affordable housing
The good news about Austin’s growing housing affordability crisis – if there can be such a thing – is that the city hasn’t suffered a natural disaster or a financial meltdown that would serve as the impetus to build new homes for low-income residents. But Austin and other growing cities can still learn from New […]
Posted inHousing
Council passes resolution to ease regulations on affordable housing projects
City Council unanimously approved a resolution Thursday aimed at producing more affordable housing units in the city by easing regulations on subsidized developments. The resolution, authored by Council Member Greg Casar, instructs city staff to draft an ordinance that will exempt affordable housing projects from a number of key city development regulations. Those include parking […]
Posted inHousing
City has tough decisions on affordable housing bond
The city’s affordable housing challenges were thrown into sharp relief during a presentation Tuesday morning by the Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Department to members of City Council. The presentation was before Council’s Housing and Planning Committee, but the chair, Council Member Greg Casar, had invited all of his colleagues to attend due to the […]
Posted inHousing
Workforce housing group eyes four apartment complex purchases in 2019
An investment group focused on preserving workforce housing units around Austin has announced plans to add 1,200 more apartment units to its portfolio in 2019. The Austin Housing Conservancy Fund expects to purchase four apartment complexes around the city this year in addition to the three complexes it bought in 2018 that gave it nearly […]
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As shutdown drags on, low-income housing providers in Austin worry funding for rent could run out
Prak Property Management Inc. has been digging into savings to keep some of its low-income properties in Austin running. “It’s like a savings account that every month we are required to put a certain amount of dollars into for things like roofs, appliances, that sort of thing,” said Brad Prak, a management agent with the […]
Posted inCourts
Arbitrator rules against city contractor in home repair case
An independent arbitrator has ruled in favor of a homeowner who accused a contractor hired by the city of not doing the necessary work to repair her home and ultimately leaving her house in worse shape than it was originally. Suzanne Janel is one of a number of homeowners who has publicly expressed dissatisfaction with […]
Posted inHousing
After being stymied by Abbott, Council moves ahead on east side housing initiative
Hobbled by Gov. Greg Abbott in their attempts to create more homestead preservation districts that would set aside tax revenue for affordable housing in gentrifying areas, a number of City Council members are trying to maximize the impact of the city’s existing district. Council voted in 2007 to create the city’s existing homestead preservation district, […]
Posted inHousing
Council members offer mixed reviews of displacement task force recommendations
City Council took its first look Tuesday at a long list of recommendations from a task force focused on reducing displacement of Austin’s low- and middle-income populations. The report that was unanimously approved by the Anti-Displacement Task Force includes 107 ideas for how to keep people and businesses from being priced out of the city. […]
Posted inHousing
Real estate group backs land trusts to preserve affordable housing
With Austin voters about to decide whether the city commits $250 million to increase the local supply of affordable housing, a real estate research group has come out in strong support of cultural land trusts as a tool to prevent rapid escalation of land prices. The Urban Land Institute Austin recently released an extensive white […]