Dukes supports county’s affordable housing project

State Rep. Dawnna Dukes has finally endorsed Travis County’s first proprietary affordable housing project nearly a year after her decision to back a competing development cost the county crucial tax credits. Late Thursday afternoon, Commissioner Jeff Travillion’s office announced that Dukes had submitted a letter of support for the Travis Flats project at the county’s North Campus property near Airport Boulevard and 53½ Street. Plans include as much as 60,000 square feet of space for county offices as well as 146 residential units reserved for tenants making between 30 and 80 percent of the median family income. Travillion suggested to the Austin Monitor that the county did not afford enough time last year to familiarize Dukes with its proposal before seeking her stamp of approval. Since then, however, “Commissioner Travillion’s leadership has earned my support of a project as exceptional as Travis Flats, which provides deeply affordable housing in an urban setting with robust public transportation and easy access to schools and other amenities. I will continue to promote what is best for the community I represent, despite petty politics,” Dukes said, according to the press release sent by Travillion’s office, which also noted that Dukes was “referring to Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt’s public criticism of her last spring for supporting another project over Travis Flats.” For his part, Travillion, in whose Precinct 1 Travis Flats will be built, said, “I want to thank Representative Dukes for continuing to put people before politics. Travis Flats will be a catalytic project for both Precinct 1 and (Dukes’ House District) 46.”