To fix Austin housing, is density the answer, or more subsidized units? All of the above and much more, insiders say - TEHPFC

When it comes to the critical conversations around housing affordability, it can sometimes seem like there is a great divide: between those who seek density at all costs and those concerned with subsidizing the cost of housing to help people in low-wage jobs or on fixed incomes.

But in talking to both sides, we found there is a lot in common, including a desire to speed up permitting and overhaul the land development code.

Austin Business Journal interviewed Nora Linares-Moeller, executive director of HousingWorks Austin, and Robert Lee, CEO and principal at Pearlstone Partners, to discuss some of these topics. The podcast is part of our yearlong ATX Next series, examining the challenges and opportunities that face the Austin region as it grows into one of the biggest urban centers in the nation.

Listen to the podcast in the player below, or wherever you consume podcasts. And beneath that, find some excerpts from the conversations.

Subsidized housing

Linares-Moeller knows all about what stable housing means for essential workers. She’s the executive director of HousingWorks Austin, a nonprofit that frequently works with the city on strategies to increase Austin’s affordable housing stock and meet its own citywide goal to create affordable options.

“I always like to say that affordability affects everybody,” she said. “There’s always someone who can’t afford that next house. But, we are concerned about the people that are less fortunate.”

The city of Austin adopted a Strategic Housing Blueprint in 2017, a 10-year plan to build 135,000 new housing units in the city by 2028. Of those new units, 20,000 were to be affordable to residents earning less than 30% of the median family income level. Most of the units, 75,000, would be affordable to those earning more than 80% MFI.

Between 2018 and 2020, only 238 housing units were built for those making less than 30% of MFI. In contrast, 11,328 were built for those earning more than 121% of the MFI.

Linares-Moeller spoke about what Austin’s affordable housing stock looks like now and what barriers the city faces to improving the affordable housing picture.

The market at work

Lee, who runs a diversified Austin real estate development firm, is acutely aware of the challenges of adding more density within city limits.

The Pearlstone portfolio ranges from the Parkside at Mueller condominiums, set to be complete at the end of 2023, to the sold-out Natiivo high-rise that’s nearly finished downtown. Two threads connect all of the projects: They’re relatively dense, and they’re meant to be “attainable” to Austin residents who want to live in the most desirable parts of the city.

Lee spoke about the challenges of developing density in Austin, and what it takes to keep these new projects within reach for the average resident.

 

Land does not get any larger. Land does not grow. The land is what we have … So the issue really is, how do we get more people in the same area geographically that we’ve had in the past?

– Nora Linares-Moelle