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Tag Archives: City of Austin Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Department

Home repair funds increased to fix storm damage

In response to the unprecedented damage to homes caused by winter storm Uri, Austin Water has transferred $1 million to the city’s Housing and Planning Department to help Austinites repair ruptured water lines. The city already had a program to help…

City's RENT 2.0 program ramps up

After its launch earlier this summer, the second round of the city’s rental assistance program is gaining steam. The Relief of Emergency Needs for Tenants, or RENT, program provides direct rental assistance to residents financially hurt by the Covid-19 pandemic.…

ZAP tweaks proposed merger of housing and planning departments

The Zoning and Platting Commission on Tuesday discussed the potential merger between the Neighborhood Housing and Community Development and the Planning and Zoning departments. After multiple commissioners expressed concerns about the measure, they voted unanimously to include three recommendations to…

City prepares to launch second round of rental assistance in August

City Council’s Housing and Planning Committee heard an update Tuesday on the city’s next round of Covid-19 rental assistance, known as the RENT program. The Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Department hopes to help even more households and cover a…

Housing department seeks to move unused home repair funds toward homelessness

The city will likely redirect a $2.6 million unused Community Development Block Grant intended for home repairs to create more housing for the homeless in the next budget year. Last week the Community Development Commission voted 9-2 to approve the…

City evaluates rental assistance program, prepares for round two

Back in May, the city’s Relief of Emergency Needs for Tenants program disbursed $1.2 million in emergency rental assistance to 1,680 families across the city. This week, the Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Department, in conjunction with the Housing Authority of…

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Housing, Planning & Zoning departments to merge

Under a plan proposed by Assistant City Manager Rodney Gonzales Thursday, the city’s Planning and Zoning Department would be merged with the Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Department in the 2020-21 fiscal year, which starts in October. The new department’s…

City looks to hike fees on downtown developers opting out of affordability requirements

The city has proposed increasing the fees paid by downtown developers looking to add density to their construction projects but opting not to include affordable units in the buildings. At last week’s Downtown Commission meeting, a presentation on the plan…

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,…

Arbitrator rules against city contractor in home repair case

An independent arbitrator has ruled in favor of a homeowner who accused a contractor hired by the city of not doing the necessary work to repair her home and ultimately leaving her house in worse shape than it was originally.…

Home repair problems continue to surface

After our story last week highlighting problems in the city’s Neighborhood Housing and Community Development home loan repair program, the Austin Monitor received information from another homeowner who says the contractor hired to refurbish his home in 2014 did a…

Homeowners share stories of home repair anguish

Austin city auditors found the Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Department home rehabilitation loan program left a significant number of homeowners unhappy with the work contractors did and frequently missed its own goals over a three-year period, fiscal years 2015-2017.…

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