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WHY IS HOUSING IMPORTANT?
The housing issue in Travis County is interwoven and interconnected
with a number of issues that impact this community. The purpose of
this section is to clearly identify why safe and affordable housing is so important
for our community and how the lack of housing creates serious problems.
Currently, Travis County is experiencing a tremendous economic boom. Unfortunately,
not all of our residents are reaping the benefits - in fact it is further
jeopardizing already marginalized populations. Austin/Travis County continues
to experience unprecedented growth, which has put a strain on available housing
stock. The result is a chain reaction of events that creates additional problems:
RISING HOUSING COSTS
- Rising housing costs drive up property taxes. According to the Travis
County Appraisal District, the average property tax appraisal increased
5.2 percent in 1998, continuing a long-standing trend. This is causing many
homeowners to vote against property tax increases. For example, in November
1999, voters rejected Austin Community College's proposed a property tax
increase to meet the community's workforce development needs. Additionally,
low income residents may be forced to sell due to inability to pay taxes.
- Once employees have been hired, payrolls increase to accommodate their
housing expenses. Cost of living increases are critical in the Travis County
area as housing costs continue to rise. This places burdens on employers
to keep up with the growing economy. Unfortunately, wages in Austin have
not kept pace with increases in cost of living. Most of the people moving
into the Austin area are in the service industry, making less than $10/hour
(Through the Roof, July
1999).
- Lower-income residents are displaced from their communities as neighborhoods
are gentrified. Skyrocketing housing costs, often a result of gentrification,
contribute to the shortage of affordable housing (Karen Schneider, December
1991). One example of a neighborhood in Austin that has undergone gentrification
is Clarksville, which was once an affordable neighborhood (Susan S. Richardson,
September 1995).
SUBURBAN SPRAWL
- Traffic congestion and pollution are increasing due to the vast majority
of new housing being built in the suburbs, and growing numbers of people
are moving out of central Austin. Sprawl is considered to be the fastest
growing threat to the environment. The Sierra Club ranked Austin as the
second-most sprawl-threatened mid-sized city in the United States, behind
Orlando. Austin has also been ranked as the worst. In order to accommodate
the explosive growth projected for Austin over the next 20 years, IH-35
would need 12 to 16 lanes. In order to address this issue, the City of Austin
has instituted a Smart Growth policy "to rein in development along
its fringes." (Chuck Lindell, Oct, 1999)
- Children in lower-income neighborhoods are not performing as well in school
as children in higher-income areas, and teachers often cannot afford to
live in the neighborhoods where they work. A study recently conducted by
LULAC Council 85 for the Austin Latino Alliance showed that lower-income
elementary school students in AISD received TAAS scores that ranged from
30 to 60, while higher-income AISD elementary schools received scores that
ranged from 90 to 100.
- Segregation of the population is continuing because many higher income
neighborhoods do not have affordable houses or apartments. The majority
of low-income residents in Travis County live on the East side of IH-35.
This is due in part to historic discrimination practices (see Barriers section
of this assessment), but also in part to continuing protests by neighborhoods
to build affordable housing nearby. Because higher-proportions of minorities
and persons with disabilities are low-income, this perpetuates racial segregation
in the community, and concentrates poverty in certain pockets of the community.
LACK OF SAFE
AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING
- Residents are forced to live in substandard housing, which poses significant
health risks to the community. Thousands of Travis County residents are
living in unsafe housing conditions. Because of a recent court decision
(Elgin Bank vs. Travis County), developers are not required to provide utility
hook-ups, proper road access, or drainage systems (Through
the Roof, July 1999). There are numerous septic system problems in rural
areas, in addition to unsafe conditions presented by infestations of rodents
and pests.
- In Travis County there are numerous boarding homes, privately operated,
that are not licensed or regulated. These boarding homes house a significant
number of persons with disabilities and generate a number of client abuse
and or neglect complaints (Austin/Travis
County MHMR, 1999).
- The community's tax base will decline as more mobile homes are purchased,
which tend to decrease in value over time. For mobile homes, less property
taxes will be collected as housing values decline, which means that the
community will have less money to build roads, schools, or provide other
public services.
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