Browsing by Subject "Affordability"

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8

Challenging the land use planning status quo in the Austin metro area
(2023-04-19) Smith, Kayla Michele; Wegmann, Jake
This report explores potential urban land use planning implications of changes both accelerated and brought forth by the COVID-19 pandemic that began in March of 2020. Analysis of current trends is first grounded by a literature review that examines the origins of urban systems and considers methodologies for conducting and evaluating land use planning and implementation efforts. The three notable trends studied are: increased remote and hybrid working arrangements, housing supply shortages and affordability challenges, and acknowledgement of disparate urban experiences based on race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Discussion of the disruptive potential of these trends aims to move the land use planning field beyond its reactive status quo toward consideration of how cities and metro areas can strategically position themselves to adapt and thrive in the face of changing futures. A case study of the Austin Metro Area examines specific manifestations of these trends and proposes challenges to the current land use planning approach in the region and its principal city. Planning and regulation of land use must be more flexible in the face of uncertainty, more cognizant of historical planning interventions and the disparate impacts of exclusionary policies, and more responsive to changing patterns of socioeconomic geographic distribution related to affordability, mobility, and economic opportunity for both households and the region. Additionally, future land use planning must center the needs of diverse types of people and their use patterns rather than seeking to achieve “ideal” urban forms derived from often outdated and worker-focused assumptions about how people interact with the built environment. To support this approach, planners require better means of collecting and monitoring real-time data about population characteristics, economic activity, mobility, and the real estate market, particularly in a quickly evolving urban system like the Austin Metro Area
Exploring the trade-offs between battery storage and transmission for the electrical grid
(2022-05-09) Dodamead, Sarah Emilee; Webber, Michael E., 1971-; Rhodes, Joshua; Spence, David
This thesis analyzes the financial, political, and technological trade-offs between two technologies—transmission and battery storage—within a capacity expansion framework in ERCOT, motivated by the need to make renewable energy affordable and reliable to decarbonize the electricity grid. The quantitative aspect of this analysis consists of modeling three scenarios within the SWITCH capacity expansion model framework: Base Case, Carbon Tax, and Heavy Electrification. The objective function the SWITCH the model solves for is a least cost matching of supply and demand within its system constraints (Fripp, 2019). The qualitative aspect of this analysis consists of research to summarize the technological, political, and financial factors that influence deployment for which the model is unable to account. The model results indicate that, regardless of decarbonization goals, the most reliable and affordable grid requires the construction of new solar and wind capacity in West Texas, where the resources are richest, and a proportional amount of a combination of transmission and energy storage capacity, though transmission capacity deployment should be more significant. Battery storage is optimally co-located with renewables and also sited near demand centers. Although the model suggests that battery storage is more valuable near the demand centers. The technological, political, and financial considerations from the qualitative analysis indicates that it is easier to raise capital and gain political support for battery projects compared to transmission projects, largely due to the modular nature of batteries. This finding suggests that energy storage deployment should be scaled up relative to the model's optimal future path
Housing Affordability in Austin Brings New Attention to Mobile Home Parks
(2017-11) Amaro, Gabriel, PhD
While steady job growth has made Austin a desirable migration destination, the resulting population growth has put a strain on housing availability and affordability. Recently, community organizations and city leaders have turned their attention to mobile home parks as a way to provide low-income households with affordable living opportunities within the city limits. In this brief, the Latino Research Institute examines the role of mobile home parks in housing affordability in the city of Austin, Texas.
Housing Affordability: The Impact of Single-Family Investment Purchases on Neighborhoods in the Latino Crescent
(2019-05) Amaro, Gabriel, PhD
Despite efforts to address housing affordability, the Austin area continues to experience record housing cost increases and the displacement of residents due to these increases. In this brief, the Latino Research Institute examines how cheaper housing stock in the area of Austin known as the Latino crescent may be targeted by real estate investors and how investor attention may foster a cycle of housing cost increases.
How effective are luxury-style apartment buildings at filling gaps in senior housing in Austin, Texas?
(2023-04-23) Bernacki, Samantha; Mueller, Elizabeth
Senior housing accommodations vary depending on an older adult’s specific support requirements and desires. Though there are many types of senior housing, this study examines explicitly luxury-style apartment complexes with an age restriction of 55 years and over, such as the Overture and Wildflower Terrace in Mueller, Austin. This study identifies the impacts of displacement on the elderly population in Austin, Texas, to determine the relationship between displacement and the existing population of elders that reside in rental properties of this type. If the connection is significant, this type of age-restricted apartment housing may become increasingly important in areas experiencing high growth and a dynamic population. Through interviews, tours, document and advertainment coding, and GIS analysis, this research aims to determine how 55+ apartment complexes address disparities in affordable and accessible senior housing in Austin, Texas. This study determines how residents of these tenet buildings communicate the level of existing sense of place and belonging within the buildings and surrounding areas. The study also hopes to compare the luxury-style senior apartment complexes to identically structured buildings without an age restriction.
New housing and the neighborhood : the impacts of new multifamily housing developments on property taxes in Austin, Texas
(2019-05) Woods, Alice May; Wegmann, Jake
Austin has seen rapid population, job, and economic growth in the past two decades. An increase in the cost of housing and a lack of affordable housing options accompanies these forces. In recent years, Austinites have sought to come to terms with their new status as a large and still-growing city by changing land use regulations to allow for more density and a greater diversity of housing types across the city—in some cases, allowing multifamily housing where only detached single-family housing has historically existed. These attempts to allow for more dense housing development, in particular the 2012-2016 attempted land use code rewrite CodeNEXT, have been met with forceful opposition from many of Austin’s powerful neighborhood organizations. Among their concerns over increased building and development is a fear that new dense housing developments in their communities will further escalate their ever-rising property taxes. Instead of new housing supply alleviating some of the pressure of the housing market by meeting Austin’s housing demands, many argue that new housing only exacerbates rising housing costs through induced demand. This report examines the causal relationship between new multifamily housing development in Austin and the property taxes paid by nearby single-family homeowners. Analysis of three cases of multifamily development in different single-family Austin neighborhoods suggests that the relationship between new development and property taxes is inconsistent, but that correlation, rather than causation, is a more likely explanation for any rising property taxes near new development. The opacity of the Travis Central Appraisal District’s home appraisal process and Texas’s non-disclosure laws make it difficult to untangle the various factors impacting property taxes and contribute to frustration around property taxes in Austin. This research suggests that any induced demand as it relates to property taxes does not offset the affordability benefits of building new, denser housing in Austin.
Small lot amnesty tool : evaluating potential population growth benefits and costs in Austin, Texas
(2016-05) Garner, Brianna; Paterson, Robert G.; Mueller, Elizabeth
This study examines the Small Lot Amnesty tool, an infill tool option for single-family neighborhoods in Austin, Texas. After the tool’s misuse and a heated public discussion, City Council chose to close the developer loophole that many argued did not meet the tool’s original intent. The study quantifies potential population growth benefits and costs if the City Council voted the other way, allowing the tool to disaggregate small lots and build multiple homes on what was once only one house. The findings reveal many population growth benefits, such as increased children enrollment into the local school system, but also expose the challenges of such growth, including increased water runoff due to increased impervious cover. Recommendations are made for the City of Austin and City Council to consider, including a public dialogue and outreach participatory program to gather citizen’s input, future research opportunities to better understand the tool’s potential and issues, and reducing the minimum lot size standards for Single-Family development in Austin.
Sustainable growth and affordable form : strategies for Austin’s future housing development
(2016-05) Howard, Kevin Michael; Wegmann, Jake; Almy, Dean
Today, Austin faces a housing affordability crisis driven by rapid population growth and increasing economic disparity. With a significant housing shortage, particularly in affordable units, Austin must build both in existing neighborhoods and in new communities on the periphery to balance its housing market. This report evaluates a series of recent housing projects in Austin in search of a sustainable model for residential development that balances equity, ecology, and economy. This analysis finds that no existing model provides affordable housing with good access to transit and urban amenities that can be marketed and reproduced at the scale necessary to balance Austin’s housing market. This report then analyzes the formal qualities that make housing development efficient and affordable for developers, taxpayers, and residents. An analysis of density and building construction technology explores the convoluted relationship of density and per-unit land and construction costs. Then, a case study evaluates and compares a series of street grid designs drawn from cases as varied as Tokyo and outskirts of Austin. Each grid is evaluated based on indicators of efficiency and walkability. This report identifies that there is likely an optimal density for maximizing per-unit affordability, which varies by land cost. This report also finds that, disregarding net density, automobile scaled infrastructure grids with large blocks and wide rights-of-way are found to perform well for development efficiency, but poorly for walkability. Alternatively, pedestrian scaled infrastructure grids with small blocks were found to be equally efficient provided that they were designed with narrow rights-of-ways for local streets. While highlighting lessons particular to Austin, this paper provides insights on housing affordability issues shared by many other cities, adding to the discussion of how to most sustainably deliver affordable housing in America’s growing cities.