I wrote a column for today’s American-Statesman about last week’s defeat of Proposition 15, the bond measure that would have provided $78.3 million for affordable housing. There were seven Austin bond propositions on the Nov. 6 ballot, plus Central Health’s property tax increase to help build a medical school. Proposition 15 was the only bond proposal Austin voters rejected.
Last summer, the Fordham Institute’s Michael Petrilli compiled a list of the nation’s ZIP codes with the largest growth in white population between the 2000 census and the 2010 census. East Austin’s 78702 was No. 2 on the list. The white share of the population in 78702, which is bounded by I-35, MLK, Airport Boulevard and Lady Bird Lake, increased 33 percent from 2000 to 2010, while the ZIP code’s overall population fell 5 percent. This change in the makeup of East Austin is not necessarily a sign of gentrification, which is a socioeconomic phenomenon, not a racial one, but we all know how much downtown and areas near downtown have changed the past decade, with mixed-use developments, new condos and apartments, and houses renovated and expanded. The development has increased housing prices and property taxes, making it difficult for low-income, working-class individuals and families to remain in their neighborhoods.
Affordable housing is an imperfect term that includes everything from helping seniors on fixed incomes remain in their homes to moving the homeless into transitional housing, but one of its goals is to mitigate gentrification’s effects by keeping rents and mortgages affordable for low-income individuals and families. And some of the best affordable housing developments in Austin seamlessly blend low-cost and market-priced housing. With Proposition 15’s defeat, it’s anyone’s guess how much of that work can continue.