Austin Passes $350 Million Affordable Housing Bond

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin voted in favor of a $350 million affordable housing bond Tuesday night. This is the city’s largest housing bond to date.

A total of 222,591 (70.87%) voted for the bond, while 91,479 (29.13%) voted against it.

The City of Austin Proposition A reads:

“The issuance of $350,000,000 in tax-supported general obligation bonds and notes for planning, designing, acquiring, constructing, renovating, improving and equipping affordable housing facilities for low and moderate income persons and families, and acquiring land and interests in land and property necessary to do so, funding loans and grants for affordable housing, and funding affordable housing programs, as may be permitted by law; and the levy of a tax sufficient to pay for the bonds and notes.”

For an owner of a $400,000 home, that would mean an increase in your annual property tax bill of about $53, according to the city.

“We’re really excited with this one, because this one shows us that Austin’s voters consider housing to be a number one priority and that they’re willing to invest public dollars to make sure that we can produce not only housing but deeply affordable housing, so we can keep our working people here,” said Joao Paulo Connolly with the Austin Justice Coalition at a watch party Tuesday night hosted by supporters.

“This is the third housing bond that this city has the past in the last eight years, 10 years. It’s the second one that we’ve passed in the last four years. And I think that’s real significant because it demonstrates the priority that our city has,” Austin Mayor Steve Adler told KXAN News during the watch party.

AJC and Adler were part of the coalition supporting the bond, which was officially proposed back in July. It was also backed by many city council members and other nonprofits, including Austin Habitat for Humanity, HousingWorks Austin and Foundation Communities.

“We’re hemorrhaging people. We’re just losing a lot of the diversity. That makes this city special,” Austin Mayor Steve Adler said during a kickoff rally in July. “One of the most successful proven tools we have in this city is affordable housing and affordable housing bonds.” 

This article originally appeared on KXAN.com. You can find that and a list of qualifying criteria here.