The City of Austin is looking for creative solutions to try and alleviate its affordable housing problem.
Austin Mayor Steve Adler hopes that $500 million in bonds will help curb the rising costs of homes in the city.
Adler, who is in final year as mayor of the city, recently told Bloomberg that the city’s growth is fueling the demand for housing, which is causing home prices to soar.
“That’s our existential challenge right now,” he said. “Austin is building more homes per capita than any other city in the country, and it’s still not enough. The only way to stop the growth is to make this an undesirable place to live, and I don’t want to be the mayor that does that.”
According to Bloomberg, Adler desires a bond sale of $300 million to $500 million to help alleviate the average median price of homes which spiked to $568,000 in 2021 while keeping housing affordable for the artistic individuals and viability that the city is well known for.
Voters in the city will decide on the bond referendum during November’s election with Adler telling Bloomberg that the city has yet to examine what its city’s bonding capacity could be without additional taxes.
KXAN reported that the Austin Board of Realtors has reported that more homes were sold in the Austin-Round Rock area than ever before.
Cord Shifflet, the 2022 board president, told KXAN that those figures definitely made the world notice.
“In 2021, we lived through the most exciting, complicated, fast-paced and record-setting housing market in Austin’s history,” he said. “With all the new jobs across the region from exciting companies like Tesla and Samsung, Austin was put on the world’s stage and captured the hearts and attention of so many. We are lucky to call Austin our home when it has so much to offer from a great quality of life to a wonderful destination for innovation and opportunity.”