Central Library
Rebuilding HOME
RECEIVED Mon., May 13, 2024
Dear Editor,
The Austin Neighborhoods Council has been doing a careful, numbers-based analysis of the HOME proposal and we have a list of concerns:
This proposal will not increase affordable housing in Austin and will increase gentrification all over the city, with particular intensity in the Eastern Crescent. It gives developers the right to build high-density housing throughout neighborhoods, effectively giving them everything they could possibly want while asking nothing in return. It also would make neighborhoods entirely powerless when they try to negotiate with developers for more thoughtful development in keeping with their neighborhood plans. It will place extraordinary burdens on public infrastructure and services that taxpayers will have to pay for, with increased risks to the health and safety of all residents, but particularly residents of flood-prone areas.
We understand that the city is applying for grant money from the federal government to pay for Project Connect but we believe that the taxpayers need to know more about how exactly the Project Connect tax increase dollars are being used.
We ask that the City Council restart HOME and work with neighborhoods, community organizations (including the ANC, PODER, GAVA, CPATX and SOS), professional experts, and, yes, developers. We also ask that the city abandon the one-size-fits-all approach to a Land Development Code and adopt an anti-displacement overlay that can be a tool to preserve existing communities threatened with gentrification, according to the People's Plan. The city should address the issue of unlicensed short-term rentals that are keeping housing units off the market and inflating housing prices and find creative financing solutions that make it possible for middle-income homeowners to afford accessory dwelling units that can serve to help families stay in their homes.
The Austin Neighborhoods Council has been doing a careful, numbers-based analysis of the HOME proposal and we have a list of concerns:
This proposal will not increase affordable housing in Austin and will increase gentrification all over the city, with particular intensity in the Eastern Crescent. It gives developers the right to build high-density housing throughout neighborhoods, effectively giving them everything they could possibly want while asking nothing in return. It also would make neighborhoods entirely powerless when they try to negotiate with developers for more thoughtful development in keeping with their neighborhood plans. It will place extraordinary burdens on public infrastructure and services that taxpayers will have to pay for, with increased risks to the health and safety of all residents, but particularly residents of flood-prone areas.
We understand that the city is applying for grant money from the federal government to pay for Project Connect but we believe that the taxpayers need to know more about how exactly the Project Connect tax increase dollars are being used.
We ask that the City Council restart HOME and work with neighborhoods, community organizations (including the ANC, PODER, GAVA, CPATX and SOS), professional experts, and, yes, developers. We also ask that the city abandon the one-size-fits-all approach to a Land Development Code and adopt an anti-displacement overlay that can be a tool to preserve existing communities threatened with gentrification, according to the People's Plan. The city should address the issue of unlicensed short-term rentals that are keeping housing units off the market and inflating housing prices and find creative financing solutions that make it possible for middle-income homeowners to afford accessory dwelling units that can serve to help families stay in their homes.
Thank you,
Julie Woods and the ANC Executive Committee
Julie Woods and the ANC Executive Committee
