The Austin City Council Thursday passed a resolution directing the city manager to prioritize city-owned land for the development of income-restricted, shared-equity housing for older residents and people with disabilities. The unanimously approved directive includes pursuing options such as cooperative housing and community land trusts as well as prioritizing sites near public transit corridors and equitable transit-oriented developments, the Austin Monitor reported.
“We are part of a growing contingent interested in innovative housing models that bridge the gap between the option of aging alone or paying for services,” Boomers Collaborative Foundation founder Carol Lilly said at the meeting. “These are elder co-housing, senior cooperative housing and home-sharing models where seniors can age in place together through mutual support and healthy interdependence.”
According to exhibits included in the resolution, 38 percent of residents aged 65 and older are housing cost burdened — meaning they spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing — while 85 percent can't afford assisted living, and more than 20 percent of Americans aged 65 and older are at risk of becoming “elder orphans,” lacking family support as they age.
“Austin, known for its rising housing costs, is already a difficult place to afford for seniors. The average rent in the city has surged by over 40 percent in just the last five years,” Boomers Collaborative Foundation’s Chad Wallace said. “For seniors relying on Social Security or modest pensions, this is simply unsustainable.”
The resolution directs the city to prioritize cooperative housing in land dispositions, sales and developments, particularly in ETOD areas. “This resolution will give us direction to prioritize co-ops for our dispositions, when we sell land, when we develop land or look for other developers,” the city Housing Department’s James May said. “We do have several other properties that are in ETOD areas and we do expect to prioritize this through that disposition.”
