Austin residents balk at scale of affordable housing project

• The tension highlights the challenges of expanding affordable housing in dense, older neighborhoods where housing costs are out of reach even for middle-income people.

The latest: On Thursday, the City Council is poised to approve a resolution that it supports a low-income housing tax credit development for the site at 206 East Annie St. The approval is a key step in winning state tax credits.

• The 0.9-acre site is currently owned by a church and is under contract to affordable housing developer O-SDA.
• The development could have as many as 75 units, per documents filed with the city.
• The project would include a mix of studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, with the lion's share slated for residents making 60% of the median family income, which is $80,280 for a family of four.

The big picture: "We're most excited about potential for people working in the South Congress area to have an opportunity to live there," Abby Tatkow, a project manager with OSD-A, tells Axios. "Somebody from a service industry worker all the way to a firefighter would be able to live there."

• The project could be as high as five stories with ground-level parking, per the minutes of a meeting between developers and neighbors shared with Axios. Tatkow said the firm hadn't settled on the final design.

What they're saying: "This is plop in the middle of a single-family neighborhood," Martha Newman, who has lived on nearby East Milton Street since 1989, tells Axios. "We're talking about a five-story wall" that will "loom" over neighbors' properties, she said.

• With entrances and exits slated for the two-lane East Annie Street and a pre-K planned for the property, "we're exceedingly concerned about the traffic," she said. Plus, she said, ground-level parking will create a "dead zone" on the street.
• Residents neighboring the planned project want the tax credit application "rejected or postponed," Newman says.

"We applaud O-SDA's many affordable housing projects around Central Texas but we believe the design of this project does not reflect the historic nature of our neighborhood nor does it promote the integration of its residents into the community," reads a letter from some Travis Heights residents to city officials.

• "We are committed to working with the council and the broader community to create affordable living on the Annie Street site that is safe and functional and works for residents and neighbors alike," the letter says.

The other side: "We need to be able to operate property to scale" to make the project feasible and help meet city affordable housing goals, Tatkow tells Axios.

Zoom in: More affordable housing is an overarching policy priority of city leaders, as Austin's cost of living has skyrocketed in recent years.

• In September, for example, city officials announced a further $46 million had been earmarked for eight affordable housing developments across five areas of the city.
• "This investment is a major step in advancing Austin's vision of safe, stable, and affordable housing in every part of our city," Deletta Dean, Housing Department director, said at the time. "By building new communities and preserving existing ones, we can help residents stay rooted and reduce displacement pressures that threaten neighborhood stability."

By the numbers: There are about 55,000 income-restricted units in Austin, across about 670 buildings, per Austin Housing, the city department that manages affordable housing.

The intrigue: Before the City Council changed to district-based seats a little over a decade ago, the neighbors of the planned project would have had more clout — politically active neighborhoods like Travis Heights were an especially powerful influence with the council, all of whom were elected at-large.

• Council Member Zohaib "Zo" Qadri, who represents Travis Heights, did not respond to an Axios request for comment, but in an email to neighbors his aide Melissa Beeler said he had encouraged developers to meet further with residents and would convene a group to discuss mobility issues in this area.

What's next: Thursday's council item "is not the final say about this development," Beeler wrote. "It is a milestone in the state's financing process and an opportunity to signal support of affordable housing at this site, which it seems we are all in agreement with."

• A rezoning process requiring council approval "will allow us to consider the design of the project itself," she wrote.