The Austin Strategic Housing Blueprint, which was adopted by City Council in 2017, identified a multifaceted set of coordinated strategies that the City of Austin and its partners should further in order to effectively address growing affordability gaps for Austinites. It also set clear goals for Austin’s housing production — including affordable housing production — over the next 10 years.
Since January 2018, Asakura Robinson and the Austin Community Design and Development Center have been working with the City of Austin to develop an implementation plan for the Strategic Housing Blueprint. The Austin Strategic Housing Blueprint Implementation Plan and accompanying Atlas of Existing and Historical Conditions have been released and are available for public comment.
This continuation of the Blueprint effort identified actionable and quantifiable steps to reach Austin’s affordability goals. The Asakura Robinson / ACDDC team produced two major documents: an Implementation Plan to put the Blueprint into action and an Atlas of Existing and Historical Conditions that will guide future development. The process included extensive stakeholder and implementer outreach.
The Implementation Plan recommendations include action steps and priorities for the two year and ten-year timeframes, metrics of success for action steps, resource and funding needs for implementation, and a process and timeline for reporting to City Council on progress. The Atlas of Existing and Historical Conditions helps define key terms from the Blueprint such as “high-opportunity areas” and “gentrifying areas,” and uses four key areas of emphasis from the Blueprint to create a set of geographically-specific goals for housing production and preservation within different areas of the City. It also includes a focused analysis on housing production and preservation needs near 2016 Mobility Bond corridors.
The next steps for the plan include the current public comment period, which extends through December 31, 2018, and eventual adoption by City Council. Comments can be submitted via email to NHCD@austintexas.gov. Visit the project website for more information.