The Affordable Housing Crisis in Austin
The Affordable Housing Crisis in Austin

Author: Joshua Cuddy

Publisher:

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 128

ISBN-13:

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Affordable housing availability and cost-burden rates for low-income and middle-income households in Austin, Texas are worse than both the national and state averages. As population growth has outpaced housing development, the subsequent rise in property value has created higher housing costs that impede the ability for households to accrue social safety net savings and meet basic needs such as food, shelter, and medical care. This report aimed to examine the history of public and private policy that impacted non-white residents’ ability to accrue wealth and achieve homeownership. In addition, this report examined current affordable housing within the city and its geospatial location in relation to coexisting social service need data within Austin zip codes. The findings of this report show that affordable housing development has primarily occurred in historically African American neighborhoods East of Highway I35. Furthermore, analysis of United Way 2-1-1 caller data of unmet social serviced need indicates high levels of unmet service need existing within these areas. In light of these findings, recommendations to improve affordable housing include: expansion of Pay-for–Success financing for creating Permanent Supportive Housing; push for legislation to create redevelopment zones as well as tax abatements for low-income home owners; funding towards the affordable housing strike fund; and expansion of wraparound services amongst affordable housing providers.

Yes to the City
Yes to the City

Author: Max Holleran

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2024-05-07

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 0691259119

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A fascinating account of the growing "Yes in My Backyard" urban movement The exorbitant costs of urban housing and the widening gap in income inequality are fueling a combative new movement in cities around the world. A growing number of influential activists aren’t waiting for new public housing to be built. Instead, they’re calling for more construction and denser cities in order to increase affordability. Yes to the City offers an in-depth look at the “Yes in My Backyard” (YIMBY) movement. From its origins in San Francisco to its current cadre of activists pushing for new apartment towers in places like Boulder, Austin, and London, Max Holleran explores how urban density, once maligned for its association with overpopulated slums, has become a rallying cry for millennial activists locked out of housing markets and unable to pay high rents. Holleran provides a detailed account of YIMBY activists campaigning for construction, new zoning rules, better public transit, and even candidates for local and state office. YIMBY groups draw together an unlikely coalition, from developers and real estate agents to environmentalists, and Holleran looks at the increasingly contentious battles between market-driven pragmatists and rent-control idealists. Arguing that advocates for more housing must carefully weigh their demands for supply with the continuing damage of gentrification, he shows that these individuals see high-density urbanism and walkable urban spaces as progressive statements about the kind of society they would like to create. Chronicling a major shift in housing activism during the past twenty years, Yes to the City considers how one movement has reframed conversations about urban growth.

Sustainable Growth and Affordable Form
Sustainable Growth and Affordable Form

Author: Kevin Michael Howard

Publisher:

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 182

ISBN-13:

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Today, Austin faces a housing affordability crisis driven by rapid population growth and increasing economic disparity. With a significant housing shortage, particularly in affordable units, Austin must build both in existing neighborhoods and in new communities on the periphery to balance its housing market. This report evaluates a series of recent housing projects in Austin in search of a sustainable model for residential development that balances equity, ecology, and economy. This analysis finds that no existing model provides affordable housing with good access to transit and urban amenities that can be marketed and reproduced at the scale necessary to balance Austin’s housing market. This report then analyzes the formal qualities that make housing development efficient and affordable for developers, taxpayers, and residents. An analysis of density and building construction technology explores the convoluted relationship of density and per-unit land and construction costs. Then, a case study evaluates and compares a series of street grid designs drawn from cases as varied as Tokyo and outskirts of Austin. Each grid is evaluated based on indicators of efficiency and walkability. This report identifies that there is likely an optimal density for maximizing per-unit affordability, which varies by land cost. This report also finds that, disregarding net density, automobile scaled infrastructure grids with large blocks and wide rights-of-way are found to perform well for development efficiency, but poorly for walkability. Alternatively, pedestrian scaled infrastructure grids with small blocks were found to be equally efficient provided that they were designed with narrow rights-of-ways for local streets. While highlighting lessons particular to Austin, this paper provides insights on housing affordability issues shared by many other cities, adding to the discussion of how to most sustainably deliver affordable housing in America’s growing cities.

The Affordable Housing Crisis
The Affordable Housing Crisis

Author: Marley Faye Williams

Publisher:

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 100

ISBN-13:

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Across the United States, the lack of affordable housing availability for extremely low-income and very low-income households has reached epidemic proportions. There is not a single state in the country with enough affordable and available units of housing to house all the extremely low-income households that qualify. The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development has responded to this crisis with assistance in the form of the Housing Choice Voucher program; however, only one in four families eligible to receive a voucher actually receive assistance. Cities, counties and states across the United States are being forced to acknowledge the crisis in affordable housing and address the crisis with evidence-based and innovative affordable housing solutions. This report provides context for the affordable housing crisis and analyzes housing solutions taking place in different municipalities and states across the United States. Finally, this report will include recommendations to guide policymakers and advocates as they search for ways to increase the supply and availability of affordable housing in the years to come.

Potential Barriers to Affordable Housing for Immigration of Lower-income Residents in Land Use Plans of Suburban Towns in the Austin MSA
Potential Barriers to Affordable Housing for Immigration of Lower-income Residents in Land Use Plans of Suburban Towns in the Austin MSA

Author: Jeffrey Adam Carrillo

Publisher:

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 250

ISBN-13:

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This study examines the readiness of suburban towns in Austin for the potential development of affordable and low-income housing through their comprehensive plans and land use policies. The study consists of four sections: an overview of the greater Austin MSA and the developing poverty in the suburban areas, a literature review of the effects of local land use policies on affordable housing production and development, the establishment of a "best practices" metric for local land use policies amenable to affordable housing production, and application of the metric to four localities in the Austin MSA, including Elgin, Dripping Springs, Kyle, and Georgetown. The findings reveal primarily low scores overall for the four localities, and expose the challenges suburban jurisdictions in a high-growth MSA in Texas face when addressing the needs of increasing low-income residents, and display best practices that localities with successful methods use to address those needs.