The sprawl apartment boom
Affordable apartments in Austin are often barely in Austin.
Austin has been getting a lot of attention lately for the dramatic rent drops that have coincided with of long-overdue zoning reforms. I hate to be the buzzkill, but as much as I support the reforms, they have little to do with most of the new home construction. Much of the building boom has been taking place in areas that are not fiercely defended by powerful neighborhood associations.
Consider the handful of income-restricted projects that City Council voted unanimously last week to bless.
The one that is most exciting to me is a 58-unit permanent supportive housing project by Foundation Communities right off S. Lamar, near the famous Saxon Pub. It's in a great location, a stone's throw away from a frequent bus route (803) downtown.
But that was a notable exception. All of the others are firmly in sprawl country.
For instance, this project is at 14411 Immanuel Road:
Here is the Google Streetview of that address:
One of the other projects is on Howard Lane, in Pflugerville apparently. You can see other new apartment buildings in the distance.
The final project is way down south –– not far from Buda –– in a cul-de-sac off I-35.
That's why it's important to remember that dense housing isn't necessarily transit-supportive housing. Even if it is located, as is the case for the Pflugerville project, on what the city describes as a "transit corridor."
Is this a reason not to build this housing, as suggested today by Zenobia Joseph, a City Hall regular who often shows up to allege that the city's housing and public transit policies neglect poor Black and Hispanic residents?
"You're going to transport poverty to Pflugerville," she said, adding that the future residents "will have to walk a mile-and-a-half to the bus."
I don't think Joseph has it quite right. These projects are generally not serving those in poverty. The lowest income bracket served by the Pflugerville project is 50% MFI, which is $44,100 for a single person or $68k for a family of four.
Believe me, I know that is not great money these days. But people with these incomes have cars, even if it is a heavy financial burden. Car ownership, unfortunately, is generally part of the working class experience in Austin. I hope that making it easier to build housing in the urban core and increased transit investments will make car dependence less common, but it's not an excuse to stand in the way of affordable housing in the hinterlands.
If somebody forwarded you this email, please consider subscribing to the newsletter by visiting the website.
