Austin Considers Controversial Change to Affordable Housing Requirements

The city of Austin is weighing a proposal to change the way it calculates income restrictions for affordable housing, reports Jonathan Lee for the Austin Monitor. While restrictions are currently tied to the median family income (MFI) for the entire Austin-Round Rock metropolitan area, "Commissioners wondered if using neighborhood MFI would be a better policy."

"The idea is that pegging MFI to the neighborhood level would bring deeply affordable units to poorer neighborhoods, since the MFI in those areas is lower than the area MFI. Commissioner Carmen Llanes Pulido pointed out that using area MFI means affordable units in lower-income neighborhoods are not actually affordable for many current residents."

But according to Erica Leak with the Housing and Planning Department, the proposal might be illegal. "Even though it’s intending to try and match the units with the neighborhood, which might be great in lower-income neighborhoods, it has an exclusionary effect in higher-income neighborhoods," Leak told the Austin Monitor. "According to Leak, other cities that have enacted such a policy have been sued." The city could choose to apply the neighborhood-level MFI selectively, which might not trigger a similar lawsuit.

"The discussion Tuesday came during a briefing on proposed changes to the affordability requirements in the Vertical Mixed-Use density bonus program. Further VMU discussions at the Planning Commission are expected March 22."