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Housing
City tightens standards for housing development assistance loans
The Austin Housing Finance Corporation plans to be more selective with loan applications and partnerships for its Rental Housing Development Assistance and Ownership Housing Development Assistance programs in the coming years. The programs offer loans to developers promising housing units…
Housing • By Ryan Thornton • Aug 15, 2019
City finds almost 7,000 unregistered short-term rentals, with enforcement on the way
A vendor hired by the city to determine the number of short-term rental properties active on platforms such as Airbnb and VRBO told the Austin Monitor there are close to 11,000 operators, with less than a quarter of them licensed…
Housing • By Chad Swiatecki • Jul 23, 2019
Disability committee pushes city to help address evictions
Advocates for the disabled community are pushing the city’s departments in charge of housing services to find ways to decrease the number of evictions their community experiences while also adding housing supply designed for accessibility. At this month’s meeting of…
Housing • By Chad Swiatecki • Jul 22, 2019
Families with noncitizens could lose federal housing benefits if HUD proposal moves forward
Tuesday is the last day for public comment on a proposal that could evict or even separate thousands of families with mixed-citizenship status who receive housing assistance in Texas. Since 1980, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has…
Housing • By Andrew Weber, KUT • Jul 9, 2019
Area builders warn of worker shortage impacts on affordable housing
As robust and active as the Austin building and development world appears to be, professionals in the construction industry say an ongoing labor shortage is stifling building activity and could present problems for the city’s push to add affordable housing…
Housing • By Chad Swiatecki • Jun 28, 2019
Housing committee hears about district goals
Two years ago this month, Austin City Council adopted its first strategic housing blueprint, with the goal of developing metrics to define how the city should allocate its resources to produce affordable housing for residents earning less than 80 percent…
Housing • By Jo Clifton • Apr 18, 2019
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With affordability funding looming, housing proponents have questions
With housing project applicants angling for portions of the city’s coming $250 million in general obligation bonds for affordable housing, city leaders charged with finding the right mix of new units are starting to wrestle with questions of how much…
Housing • By Chad Swiatecki • Apr 8, 2019
A big problem for low-income homeowners: septic tanks
For the most part, living in rural Travis County is cheaper than living in the city of Austin. Land values, property taxes and rents are all significantly lower. Sewage, however, often costs significantly more. The problems and costs associated with…
Housing • By Jack Craver • Apr 1, 2019
County celebrates major renovations of affordable housing communities
The Housing Authority of Travis County hosted a ribbon-cutting celebration Thursday morning to honor the completion of the $10.4 million rehabilitation of two of its affordable housing communities. The project involved improvements to 51 units at Alexander Oaks in Oak…
Housing • By Ryan Thornton • Mar 22, 2019
Lessons for Austin abound in cities where crises produced affordable housing
The good news about Austin’s growing housing affordability crisis – if there can be such a thing – is that the city hasn’t suffered a natural disaster or a financial meltdown that would serve as the impetus to build new…
Housing • By Chad Swiatecki • Mar 13, 2019
Council passes resolution to ease regulations on affordable housing projects
City Council unanimously approved a resolution Thursday aimed at producing more affordable housing units in the city by easing regulations on subsidized developments. The resolution, authored by Council Member Greg Casar, instructs city staff to draft an ordinance that will…
Housing • By Jack Craver • Feb 22, 2019
City has tough decisions on affordable housing bond
The city’s affordable housing challenges were thrown into sharp relief during a presentation Tuesday morning by the Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Department to members of City Council. The presentation was before Council’s Housing and Planning Committee, but the chair,…
