Council Preview: Water, TNCs, and Housing

In a win for social service and health advocates, City Council passed two separate Items during its March 31 meeting that direct funds to assist vulnerable populations – providing up to $40 million for "self-sufficiency social services" through 2018, and approving a $1,050,000 agreement with six social service agencies to provide community-based health prevention and education programs over the next year. Over Council Mem­bers Don Zimmerman and Ellen Troxclair's vocal opposition, both measures passed 8-2, with Mayor Steve Adler off the dais on city business.

Today (April 7), Council – with Adler back on the dais – will look to mitigate excess water bills, assist middle-income home-buyers, revise electronic campaign finance forms, and equalize taxi and transportation network company regulations.

Prompted by the unusual spike in some customers' water bills last summer ("Austin Water Woes," Sept. 11, 2015) Troxclair has proposed a resolution (Item 23) to create an administrative adjustment policy for Austin Water customers who experience an unexplained increase in water and wastewater usage. If a customer sees a bill more than three times their average usage, they can submit an application within 90 days of the bill date and may be eligible for partial credit of the excess charge.

Item 17 is considered a "next step" of the TNC ordinance passed by Council in December ("Uber and Lyft Go to City Hall" Dec. 18, 2015). The measure specifies which offenses would bar both TNC drivers and ground transportation chauffeurs (i.e., taxi drivers) from operating. A person who has been convicted of certain offenses in the past seven years (including possession of a controlled substance and prostitution), or convicted of certain offenses at any point in their life (including rape and aggravated assault) is disqualified from obtaining a chauffeur's permit and from driving for a TNC. It also stops drivers from continuing business if they are charged with or arrested for any of the listed offenses. It requires both types of drivers to submit a complete driving record and nationwide criminal history within 30 days of submitting their application for a chauffeur's permit.

Expect Zimmerman to pick a fight over Item 24, a resolution drafted by CM Delia Garza that looks to help out the "missing middle" – potential housing buyers who aren't eligible for government subsidies but can't afford market-rate housing. Garza asks the city manager to examine how the city could use part of the unallocated 2013 affordable housing bond funds (which now mainly go toward rental units and home repair) for affordable housing geared toward residents at or below 80% of the MFI. (During the Tuesday work session, co-sponsor Greg Casar made the point that our affordability crisis is such that Council must now find ways to subsidize housing for middle-income residents.) The ordinance also proposes creating a working group to come up with ways (zoning changes; future CodeNEXT regs; etc.) to assist that bracket of homebuyers. A major opponent of the city's recent affordable housing bond packages, Zimmerman accused the resolution of promoting "more institutionalized economic segregation" as it would increase the number of residents dependent on government.

Council also plans to take up two previously postponed measures: Item 19, weighing how much time Council and committee meetings should give to public comment, and Item 6, revising electronic campaign finance reporting rules.