Austin to spend $47M on affordable apartments near public transit stops

The city of Austin is taking a transit-focused approach to its affordable housing problem.

Austin’s City Council approved more than $47 million in spending and loan agreements on apartments in north, south and east Austin.

All of the apartments are located near current or future transit lines.

Austin’s hot multifamily and single family markets have been pushing out longtime residents and the city is trying to address the public clamor to keep more residents from being priced out.

Austin’s affordable housing programs are focused on keeping long-time Austin residents housed, maintaining existing affordable housing and limiting the displacement of residents because of new development, according to a Community Impact Austin report.

Apartments and other mixed-use developments are sprouting up or are planned around Austin’s relatively new light rail transit system.

In April 2022, Austin had the highest year-over-year rent hikes in the nation.

Austin will spend $2.6 million to buy City View apartments. This complex has 68 apartments with one- and two-bedroom units open to renters earning between 30 percent and 60 percent of the regional median family income (MFI), which is currently $110,300 for a family of four. The complex has two additional one-bedroom units that are not income-restricted.

Austin will spend $7 million from 2018 housing bonds on rehabilitation and management of the 240-unit Retreat at North Bluff in the southwestern part of the city. The complex is near bus routes and a future rail line.

Austin will partner 50-50 with Affordable Central Texas, a local nonprofit, on the preservation of the complex’s affordable housing. The building has 68 apartments available at market rates that will have their rents reduced through the partnership. The remaining 172 spaces are available to tenants earning between 30 percent and 120 percent of MFI.

Austin city council members agreed to buy Midtown Flats for $7.68 million and spend an additional $400,000 with a loan from the 2018 bonds for “working capital” including operating costs.

This building has 20 one-bedroom and 20 two-bedroom units of “naturally occurring” affordable housing available between 50 percent and 60 percent MFI, and is near a Capital Metro rail stop. The station will also be the home of the Austin MetroRail’s Orange and Blue line trains. The area is considered “vulnerable to displacement.”

Austin’s housing authority issued $30 million in bonds to renovate and expand Rosewood Courts. The plan calls for 84 units, with 20 units in the restored older buildings and 164 one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom units in the new wing available at between 30 percent and 60 percent of MFI, according to city documents.

[Community Impact-Austin] – Karn Dhingra