“First, we must promote the concept of “complete communities” citywide as recommended by the Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan. This means that all city planning and zoning actions should be focused on ensuring every resident has ready access to groceries, schools, transportation, health care, recreational opportunities and other basic services, ideally without the need for a personal motor vehicle. Our actions and policies must support this vision for complete, walkable neighborhoods throughout our city, not just in the central core.

Multi-unit housing can be zoned in appropriate locations throughout the city, including in central Austin. To do so effectively, we must initiate a community dialogue and planning process to achieve our identified housing goals, with each City Council district committed to doing its fair share to accommodate both market-rate and deeply affordable housing. The planning process should consider such factors as access to transportation, health care, schools, groceries and other basic services, as well as existing planning documents and available resources, such as public land that could be used for deeply affordable housing. “