To dive a bit deeper into our People’s Plan for Affordable Housing:

I am calling for an equitable allocation of these bond funds.I am proposing that we institute a Municipal Affordable Housing Trust through the Housing Authority of the City of Austin in order to create permanent equitable, affordable housing in Austin. Federal housing rules have historically separated families of color by not allowing single males to be on federally subsidized housing projects. With very few single males qualifying for public housing, these policies have perpetuated systemic racism. Through the City of Austin we can write the rules to right these wrongs.

$100 million of the housing bond was set aside for land purchasing and that bond money should be allocated into a land trust so people can have the ability to own not just their homes, but have ownership in their land. We must give the communities that have been historically displaced the right of first refusal. We should look at Colony Park to be converted to a Community Land Trust. With 208 acres, zoned as PUD, we have an opportunity to create something that no other city has been able to accomplish–Permanent, independent, and affordable housing.