Facing displacement, Acacia Cliffs apartment tenants mobilize at City Hall

Plans to redevelop an apartment complex in Northwest Austin are off to a rocky start, drawing a crowd to City Hall last week with demands for more concessions to displaced tenants.

Acacia Cliffs residents and their neighbors took to the podium on Thursday to request time for more robust negotiations with owner Price Realty Corporation, which is angling to rezone the site to construct a brand-new, seven-story apartment building. After nearly an hour of testimony, the divided dais ultimately landed in favor of their request, opting to postpone a final ruling on the case from April 24 to May 22. The motion passed in a 6-3-2 vote, with Council members Zo Qadri and Marc Duchen abstaining and Paige Ellis, Ryan Alter and Mayor Kirk Watson voting against.

Acacia Cliffs, which sits just west of MoPac Expressway off of Far West Boulevard, is an anomaly in a desert of affordable housing stock, offering one- and two-bedroom units at prices ranging from $700 to $1,300 per month. With an HEB, Austin Regional Clinic and AISD schools all within walking distance, the complex has become a saving grace for low-income renters, particularly those without the luxury of a vehicle.

“As a single mother working one, sometimes two jobs and receiving child support, I’ve applied for low-income housing and government aid, but I don’t qualify,” said one tenant in a written statement read during the public comment period. “Families like mine rely on communities like Acacia Cliffs to survive and thrive. Now with the threat of demolition, I’m once again being forced to consider leaving my home, my daughter’s stability and the center I’ve worked so hard to build.”

While attorney Michael Whellan says the project is still two years out from breaking ground, Price Realty hopes to replace the residences with a 650- to 700-unit complex, making use of new density incentives passed by City Council last year. In exchange for permission to build up to 90 feet, the developer will offer either 12 percent of units at 60 percent of the median family income or 10 percent of units at 50 percent MFI, totaling approximately 78 to 84 units.

Given the affordability crisis faced by Austin’s lowest-income renters, critics say that deal isn’t enough, noting the project would still yield a net loss of 290 units at a near-extinct 30 percent to 45 percent MFI.

“Less than 1,000 deeply affordable housing units have been built since 2018,” said physician assistant Alexandra Yost, who described facing difficulty paying rent at the beginning of her medical career. “These are housing units for people who are doing CPR on your child in the emergency room or taking care of your elderly family member in the nursing home. These units are necessary for housing the working-class families that are providing vital services to our community.”

Residents have moved swiftly since learning of the proposal, forming a tenants association that has begun meeting with developers in talks organized by District 10 Council Member Marc Duchen. With their livelihood on the line, tenants hope that continuing negotiations can give them a fighting chance at further concessions, including a more comprehensive relocation package for displaced residents.

Still, tenants association representative Harrison Hall says preliminary talks have proved “extremely discouraging.”

“The developer’s representatives made it clear that they would be providing our tenants only the minimum protections and allowances that the law explicitly states that they absolutely have to,” Hall said. “They don’t have any reason to do more than that, and that is because you, the members of this Council, have not yet given them a reason to do more.”

Alter, who voted against the vote’s postponement, expressed concerns that the conflict could upend Price Realty’s offer to incorporate affordable units altogether, noting that the developer could instead choose to build within the bounds of its current zoning requirements.

“Zero percent times anything is always less than 10 percent times something,” Alter said. “I think you have to have some level of consistency. We passed a policy, this adheres to that policy. I don’t like the outcome … but if we just drag our feet and then say, OK, no more, we get nothing from a public benefit perspective other than maybe one or two years of this being available and then it being torn down.”

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Posted In: Housing, District 10