City must address affordability woes
Frustration hangs heavy over East Austin, and for good reason.
All along East Cesar Chavez and surrounding streets, longtime neighbors have turned on one another, other residents who are typically at odds have found common ground, and property owners with illusions of converting their space into a hotel are left wondering where things went wrong.
At the center of the conflict is a proposal to build a 65-room boutique at 1207 E. Cesar Chavez St., directly in the midst of Austin’s most gentrified area.
The case is the most recent example of the urgent need for the city to create policies that slow gentrification and preserve working-class communities. On this front, the City Council’s recent willingness to study possible solutions is encouraging. We urge the members to keep focus and move swiftly, otherwise situations like the one that played out earlier this week over the proposed East Side Hotel will continue to arise.
Longtime neighborhood residents say the hotel project would add traffic to an already congested street and is not in line with the neighborhood character. They worry that the hotel and its clientele would turn the area into an entertainment district like nearby Rainey Street.
The developers, Brian and Bree Carrico, an Austin couple who over the past two years have poured their life’s savings into developing the proposed boutique hotel, have met most zoning requirements, including 70 on-site parking spaces, more than the city requires. (For the size of the project, the city requires only 58 onsite parking spaces). They met various times with neighborhood residents over 14 months, a gesture not customary among Austin developers. At one point they thought they had the agreement of neighborhood leaders, but as a commission decision loomed, that consensus evaporated.
The only thing standing in the way of the project moving forward is approval of a conditional-use permit, known as a CUP, which takes into account whether a proposed project will alter the neighborhood or have a negative impact. The East Cesar Chavez Neighborhood Plan, adopted in 1999 by the city, requires a conditional-use permit for hotels.
On Tuesday night, the city’s planning commission chose to neither recommend nor deny the permit. Although the Carricos could still take their request to the full City Council, a commission endorsement or lack thereof carries considerable weight.
Bree Carrico told this board in an email after the commission meeting that they are evaluating their options before deciding how to proceed.
The decision may have been disappointing for the Carricos and a sigh of relief to some residents, but how long before this or another project evokes the same fears, anger and dismay?
In the past, the city has not made curbing gentrification a policy priority. Instead, it has handled zoning and neighborhood disputes on a case-bycase basis, while ignoring the erosion of Austin’s affordable housing stock. The $65 million affordable housing bond package approved by voters in 2013 is a notable exception.
A move to change directions has begun.
Work is underway to designate areas like Dove Springs and Rundberg as low-income, District 3 Council Member Sabino “Pio” Renteria told us in a conversation Friday. A low-income designation could bring in federal grant funds for those communities for affordable housing and health services. The council members’ actions may bring some much-needed support for those areas, but the city will need more.
Studies show that when gentrification is controlled through affordable housing policies, it can foster racial and socioeconomic integration, which benefits everyone. “Every region of the country would be financially stronger with racial inclusion. Potential metro GDP gains range from $287 million per year in Springfield, Mo., (the lowest potential gain) to $510 billion per year in Los Angeles (the highest),” according to a recent report from PolicyLink.
Along with continued talks on a homestead exemption, the council has approved to revisit the process of establishing so-called homestead preservation districts in East and North Austin, which would allow the city to devote part of the property tax revenue from those areas to affordable housing.
The council plans to study a proposal to “freeze property taxes” for homeowners who are over the age of 65 or have a disability, as well as consider re-establishing the two community land trusts, which would allow nonprofits to be exempt from the city’s portion of property tax on affordable housing projects.
The city also would be wise to revisit neighborhood plans more than 10 years old that no longer represent the reality of some communities, as has been evident from the East Side Hotel case.
It will take a broad menu of solutions to properly address and manage the city’s affordability issues. This City Council has shown itself to be up to the task. But it will take a lot more than just studying the options. It will take courage and commitment to adopt meaningful policies to preserve affordable housing and make rules for development clear.
Gentrification fights are not good for neighborhoods or the city.