CodeNext derided as tool of racism

Development code rewrite will accelerate forces pushing minorities out of East Austin, group says.

An incendiary draft report circulating among members of Mayor Steve Adler’s Task Force on Institutional Racism describes the city’s high-profile land development code rewrite as “the most recent tool of institutionalized racism.”

Proponents argue that the city’s proposed 1,100-plus-page overhaul of its zoning rules, known as CodeNext, is essential to encouraging and speeding the construction of badly needed housing in Austin. But the draft, by a subgroup of the anti-racism task force, which noted that Austin’s policies dating back to the 1920s pushed Latinos and blacks east of Interstate 35, said the city’s efforts with CodeNext will accelerate the forces pushing minorities out of East Austin.

“It appears the new code will fuel even more and faster displacement of longtime residents and businesses from East Austin,” states the draft of “Housing Group Report Draft 1,” which the American-Statesman obtained Tuesday. CodeNext “is the most recent tool of institutionalized racism,” the draft says.

The early draft, prepared by the task force’s group studying housing and real estate, largely repudiates the city’s long-standing efforts to add housing to its city core. It argues that those policies have led to soaring rents and says the city’s water lines and other infrastructure will be strained by the growth.

Additionally, it argues that West Austin neighborhoods, which are predominately white and wealthy, have not seen the influx of new, mixed-use, mid-rise buildings that are transforming East Austin’s heavily minority neighborhoods.

“To put the mat(t)er bluntly, concentrated segregation of African Americans led to their concentrated displacement decades later as their historic neighborhoods were coveted by wealthier newcomers and housing developers,” the draft says.

Three members of the group confirmed the authenticity of the draft but said it was still subject to changes. However, it was unclear Tuesday how substantive those changes would be.

“I don’t know exactly how it’s going to look when it’s turned into its final version,” said Jane Rivera, who co-chairs the group