More workforce housing on the way

St. David’s Foundation has pitched in to the movement to preserve workforce housing in Austin, with a $450,000 operating grant to Affordable Central Texas, the nonprofit that manages a recently formed fund charged with buying local apartment developments and keeping rents at a level affordable to middle-income residents. The grant will help the organization with its operational and staffing expenses. In a statement, foundation CEO Earl Maxwell said preservation of workforce housing is a public health issue because nurses, teachers, emergency first responders and police officers need to be able to live in the communities they serve. The Austin Housing Conservancy Fund has thus far completed the purchase of three multifamily apartment properties with roughly 800 housing units, and plans to purchase four more in 2019.