City Council will consider an ordinance today affecting tenants who are forced to move out of properties slated for demolition or redevelopment. Under the proposed ordinance, an owner of a multifamily complex with five or more units would have to notify tenants at least 120 days before they were required to move, and the owner […]
City of Austin Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Department
This city department provides housing and community development services for Austinites. To that end, they administer programs, provide grant services, and work with non-profit and agencies to provide housing for eligible residents. The department also provides small business development services.
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Resignations and resignation
“Sent using OWA for iPhone”… On Friday, the Austin Monitor reported that Neighborhood Housing and Community Development department executive Steve Ritchie had quit, following the sudden retirement of Director Betsy Spencer over the public release of allegations of harassment and retaliation. Ritchie’s resignation letter, sent on Wednesday, Aug. 3, read, “I tender my resignation effective […]
Posted inCity Hall
Embattled manager quits housing department
By Jo Clifton and Cate Malek Facing allegations of sexual harassment and retaliation, Steve Ritchie, the embattled chief of construction and development for the Neighborhood Housing and Community Development department, submitted his resignation on Thursday. In July, department Director Betsy Spencer was forced into retirement after a Human Resources Department investigation found that Ritchie had […]
Posted inCity Hall
Report shows flaws in city’s HR complaint process
While she was the director of Austin’s Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Department, Betsy Spencer sought to block the impact of a finding that her chief of construction and development had engaged in sexual harassment. In so doing, Spencer directly disobeyed an order from her boss, Assistant City Manager Bert Lumbreras, lied to him and […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Chokeholds and other chaos
More here, more to come… On Friday, the Austin Monitor broke the story about a series of disturbing complaints at the city’s Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Department. As astute readers might have guessed, we weren’t able to include all of the details that we read and anticipate writing about in the future. Not every […]
Posted inCity Hall
Sexual harassment and retaliation claims haunt Austin’s housing department
By Jo Clifton, Cate Malek and Elizabeth Pagano City of Austin documents show that employees in the Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Department have made numerous complaints involving inappropriate behavior, a hostile work environment, sexual harassment and retaliation over the past five years. Many of those complaints revolve around Steve Ritchie, director of construction and […]
Posted inCity Hall
Ott announces Spencer’s retirement
City Manager Marc Ott sent a memo to City Council late Monday informing it that Betsy Spencer, the embattled director of the city’s Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Department, has decided to retire. Ott’s memo to the mayor and Council did not mention the fact that Spencer has been on administrative leave during an investigation […]
Posted inHousing
Austin’s first-ever housing plan hits City Hall
This week, city leaders released a draft of Austin’s first-ever strategic housing plan. Unlike broader visions for the city’s future, it focuses on how development will impact the housing supply. The plan is the direct result of a startling 2015 audit of the Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Department. In that audit, the Office of […]
Posted inHousing
Tenant relocation assistance program moves forward
In recognition of urgent community need, the Planning Commission’s Committee on Codes and Ordinances voted unanimously to push forward with a proposed tenant relocation assistance program, despite the lack of a draft ordinance at the meeting. As requested by City Council in April, the reworked ordinance adds mobile home residents to the list of tenants […]
Posted inHousing
Committee considers expanding proposed tenant relocation policy
Though the city of Austin currently has no formal policy for helping displaced tenants, change is on the way. And, after a meeting of the Housing and Community Development Committee, it looks like that policy could be expanded to offer protections to mobile home residents as well. The committee heard an update on a proposed […]
Posted inCity Hall
City audit finds trouble with affordable housing
A city audit has found that Austin does not have an effective strategy to meet its current affordable housing needs. The audit of the Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Department found that NHCD “has not adopted a clear goal, established timelines, or developed affordable housing numerical targets to evaluate its efforts in fulfilling the City’s […]
Posted inHousing
Committee zeros in on affordable housing
Lack of affordable housing, an issue that continued to plague Austin during the boom times of the last decade, was the main focus at the last Housing and Community Development Committee meeting. The city of Austin’s Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Department said the city needs a minimum of 48,000 affordable housing units and that […]