While discussing the housing affordability crisis and its impact on Austin’s essential workers, a local EMS leader captured attention Wednesday morning with her account of how emergency services staff are pushing themselves beyond reasonable limits because of their long commutes into the city. With roughly 70 percent of Austin EMS Association members living outside the […]
Housing
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Austin reopens applications for people who need help paying rent
Lee esta historia en español Low-income renters struggling to afford their monthly rent can now apply to get help from the city. Austin has about $3.6 million to dole out, after City Council members approved a new budget earlier this year. Applications opened this past Friday, Nov. 1, and will stay open for about a week, […]
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Report shows more ways for city to help residents become homeowners
Although the city of Austin offers help for low-income residents who wish to become homeowners, that assistance is limited to buyers who earn at or below 80 percent of the local Median Family Income, or MFI, which is currently $97,800 for a family of four. At the request of City Council members Vanessa Fuentes and […]
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Council approves initiative that aims to protect renters from hidden fees
Over opposition from the Austin Apartment Association, City Council passed a resolution Thursday designed to protect renters from unexpected fees tied to lease agreements. The agenda item, sponsored by Council Member Ryan Alter, directs the city manager to work with relevant stakeholders in preparing an ordinance that would apply to landlords owning five or more […]
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New scenarios for HealthSouth site could revive redevelopment push from Council
A pair of new scenarios for redeveloping the former HealthSouth properties downtown could revive the city’s efforts to use the sites to provide hundreds of units of affordable housing. A memo released last week from Mandy DeMayo, interim director of the Housing Department, includes analysis of two new scenarios for the properties, which had been […]
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Watson questions affordable housing in Airport Overlay
Mayor Kirk Watson has expressed serious concerns about a proposed affordable housing project within the flight path of Austin’s airport and has suggested changes that will prevent such development in the future. In a post on the City Council Message Board, Watson wrote, “Placing an affordable housing project in an area that would have a […]
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Austin Habitat for Humanity to build affordable homes for ‘community of tomorrow’
Habitat for Humanity International announced on Oct. 15 that Austin Habitat for Humanity will host the 2025 Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project, an annual, weeklong home-building blitz that attracts thousands of handy volunteers. Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity, last year’s Carter Work Project host, passed on the symbolic hammer to Austin Habitat during the […]
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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 […]
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As rents across the country go up, Austin prices continue to fall
During the pandemic, Austin came to exemplify the story of housing across the country: Prices went through the roof. In 2021, the average monthly rent in the region rose 25 percent. Similar increases happened in cities in California and Arizona. But that narrative has flipped. As tens of thousands of new apartments have opened in […]
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City provides updates on financial, anti-displacement efforts related to HOME initiatives
The city has started to make a series of moves intended to make it easier for middle- and low-income residents to build accessory dwelling units and generate new income from properties that are now able to host more housing. Last week’s meeting of City Council’s Housing and Planning Committee included an update from Mandy DeMayo, […]
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Council declines site plan appeal despite claims of ordinance violations
City Council last week declined to even discuss an appeal of the Planning Commission’s decision to approve a site plan, despite area homeowners’ arguments that the plan violates not only the Save Our Springs Ordinance but also the Hill Country Roadway Ordinance. The SOS Alliance, though not an appellant, argued in favor of the appeal […]
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Left waiting: Rally Austin pushes for city action on four sites ID’d for redevelopment
Representatives of the economic entity created by City Council to speed up development of city real estate assets in support of affordable housing said they’re being stymied by inaction that’s holding back work on at least four high-profile sites. In 2022, City Council approved four properties to consider for redevelopment in the near future, with […]