apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Affordable housing in Austin? What a joke. The estimates for homeless must be low or poor folks just leave. The wait time for section 8 is 3-4 years, and they routinely shut down the waiting lists because they are so long they don't have any hope of housing all the people on them. The "affordable" housing that's been created in some of the new developments (e.g. the old airport) are unaffordable even to someone who makes the median income.

I'm glad these folks are doing something, but it seems like a drop in the bucket that will help only a few lucky lottery winners--not something that will truly alleviate the difficulties of many or address the housing issues systemically.

kelleyk- While your comments about the Austin housing market are likely completely valid (based on the amt of detail you included in your post, you seem well-informed) there is no need to disparage the good efforts of those who are working towards a solution, however small their impact on the overall problem. Their "drop in the bucket" I'm sure means everything to those lucky enough to benefit from their generosity.

"I'm glad these folks are doing something..."

The rest of my critique stands. Building single family homes for a very few, no matter how beautiful the homes or how good-hearted the volunteers, isn't going to make a significant dent in the issue of the lack of affordable housing options in Austin (or anywhere else).

I think people getting involved is a good start. It's just one effort among many that local organizations are making. Homelessness isn't caused by lack of housing alone, but could be a solution for some.

I understand that the idea of this new crop of affordable housing really seems like a joke, but who would expect something truly affordable with developers at the helm? On the other hand, I don't think it's helpful to pick on a volunteer effort.

Affordable housing isn't a simple issue in any city. I'm the current president of the volunteer board of CPH and over the last 5 years the complexity of providing sustainable affordable housing has been evident to me. My professional background is in software and I learn more every week on the subject of affordable housing.

Single family, multi-family and single room occupancy multi-tenant structures (SROs) have different roles and purposes. Zoning restrictions and as well as costs and land availability have an impact on what projects are viable financially and socially. In the case of this project the target of single parent families, availability of land, zoning, and financing made this the appropriate development for our organization.

As you'll see in the coming months CPH is undertaking projects of different types and densities. Our goal is to provide affordable housing that is feasible financially, sustainable in the long run and integrates into neighborhoods and communities. To make the most of the funding available higher density solutions do become attractive however as in the case of this project these aren't always viable.

As to addressing housing issues and homelessness in a more holistic manner, housing is one piece of the puzzle. This is the reason CPH has partnered with a number of agencies that provide supportive services to residents.

A resource I hope you'll find useful is an Opportunity Mapping Report of Austin by the Kirwan Institute that outlines an approach to evaluating community health with multiple factors: http://www.austinhomeless.org/events/032107/

And last but not least, thank you to everybody that volunteered to complete these homes. We greatly appreciate your time and energy.