Austin Releases Draft Implementation Plan Strategic Housing Blueprint

On April 13, 2017 the Austin City Council adopted the first ever Austin Strategic Housing Blueprint. The document helps align resources, ensures a unified strategic direction, and facilitates community partnerships to achieve this shared vision. The plan identifies funding mechanisms, potential regulations, and other creative approaches the City of Austin should utilize to achieve housing goals.

The next step for the Blueprint is to have a specific implementation plan in place. The Austin City Council directed the City Manager to identify clear, specific steps and resources necessary to achieve the specific goals of the Housing Blueprint in Resolution No. 20170413-024, and strategies for affordable housing preservation to avoid significant loss of existing affordable housing in Resolution No. 20170413-025.

The City of Austin contracted with Asakura Robinson and a local sub-consultant Austin Community Design & Development Center (ACDDC) to develop an implementation plan.

The Implementation Plan has two components:

1. Implementation Plan: Stakeholder engagement and use of the Atlas and Corridor Analysis to create detailed, schedule-driven action items based on each Blueprint strategy.
2. Atlas of Existing and Historical Conditions: Citywide mapping and analysis to help operationalize key metrics in the Blueprint. It also defines key goals at a corridor level for the 2016 Mobility Bond corridors using the University of Texas Corridor Preservation Tool.

The Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Department is seeking public comments on these documents through December 31, 2018. 

Public comments will help refine the implementation plan document. In addition, the final strategy will take into account displacement mitigation recommendations from several other studies, including:

•        University of Texas Gentrification Study (56 recommendations)

•        People’s Plan (19 recommendations)

•        Anti-Displacement Taskforce Report (107 recommendations)

•        Mayor’s Task Force on Institutional Racism and Systemic Inequities (40 housing-related recommendations)

•        Fair Housing Action Plan (2015) (32 recommendations)

•        Central Texas Fair Housing Assessment (2019) (In Development)

•        Austin’s Plan to End Homelessness (10+ housing-related recommendations)

NHCD will be returning to the City Council Housing & Planning Committee in early 2019 with:

• Matrix of Additional Recommendations informed by other Plans/Studies
• Displacement Mitigation Strategy
• Preservation Strategy and Criteria
• Overall Strategy with Short-Term, Medium-Term and Long-Term Actions to meet Community Goals
• Funding Matrix with Recommendations to Better Align Resources
• Bond Implementation Strategy
• Land Acquisition Strategy and Criteria
• Coordination with Consolidated Planning (5-year Plan/Grant Application for Federally Funded Activities)

Comments should be sent NHCD@austintexas.gov.