Affordable Housing

Residents who live in public housing pay roughly a third of their income toward rent.

Rosewood Courts was built in 1939 as the first public housing for Black residents in the country. But more than half a century later, residents complained of poor living conditions.

Those competing to represent District 9, which has some of Austin’s most unaffordable neighborhoods, don’t agree on how to solve the skyrocketing cost of staying housed — or what to blame.

Applicants, who need to prove they make less than the median family income, have struggled to obtain mortgages.

While the city has general leeway in how the loan is spent, it says it plans to use this money to build and preserve housing that someone earning roughly less than $61,800 a year can afford.

The city estimates the bond would be paid off by taxpayers over the next two decades. Homeowners living in a median-priced house could expect to pay about $50 more a year in property taxes to pay down the debt.

Developers have built roughly 8,000 affordable homes, less than a quarter of the city’s overall goal.

AISD has three sites that it wants to repurpose, including the former Pease Elementary School in downtown Austin. The district began holding public meetings in January and has three left for public input, as well as a survey that closes on Oct. 9.

The Austin Community College Student Government Association surveyed more than 500 students about their living situations. The group found most struggled to afford rent and a handful were experiencing homelessness.

Roughly 70 residents were given 60 days' notice to leave this summer. Since then, about a dozen families have stayed, unable to find new places to live.