Major Affordable Housing Project Lauded

EAST AUSTIN, TX -- Plans for an affordable housing project in Southeast Austin are being lauded as a substantive first step in addressing the urgent need for low-income units in fast-gentrifying parts of the city.

Developers of the mixed-use housing project known as Easton Park recently disclosed plans to set aside 1,000 units there as affordable while ensuring the majority of them would be earmarked as low-income houses in perpetuity.

The agreement was approved last month by City Council members, who hailed the deal as a milestone in development of affordable housing. The need for affordable housing has intensified in Austin--a prime destination for commercial developers--as longtime residents are displaced from homes they’re no longer able to afford given soaring property tax rates.

Also known as Pilot Knob, Easton Park is located on 2,200 acres near the intersection of William Cannon Drive and McKinney Falls Parkway. The Austin American-Statesman detailed the developer’s plans in a story published on Christmas Eve.

Now, the newspaper’s editorial board has voiced its support of the measure. The board gave particular credit to Mayor Steve Adler and City Council member Delia Garza as having helped structure the deal.

“And while the deal falls short of satisfying the city’s huge demand for affordable housing, it represents a strong commitment by the City Council to get serious about addressing a major element of Austin’s affordability crisis,” the Jan. 5 editorial reads. “We urge the council to use it as a model for future housing development projects in the city.”

The affordable housing project is particularly critical for its potential to mitigate gentrification-fueled displacement largely targeting a minority working-class demographic, the newspaper noted.

“That is a big deal because it increases the stock of affordable homes in Austin for today’s families, as well as future generations,” the editorial reads.

“Also, it might well serve as a buffer in Southeast Austin against the kind of gentrification that pushed many African-Americans and Latinos out of their once-affordable neighborhoods in east-central Austin.”