Last year, a group of community activists from East Austin marked Martin Luther King, Jr. Day by releasing The People’s Plan, a six-point initiative for fighting gentrification and displacement in our city. The plan was endorsed by Austin’s Anti-Displacement Task Force last April, and the city council directed the city manager to review it.

Last week, on the anniversary of Dr. King’s death, the same group gathered at Austin City Hall and called out local leaders for failing to take action.

“We have had a displacement crisis for 20 years in Austin,” said Nelson Linder, head of the local NAACP. “Tens of thousands of people of color have been removed from East Austin by gentrification. The city’s inaction is inexcusable.”

“Every day that the city delays, more low-income apartments are threatened with demolition,” said Susana Almanza, head of PODER. “They are replaced with luxury housing, as with the proposed Oracle II project on East Riverside.  Displacement may not be an emergency to city officials, but it is to our communities.”

“The People’s Plan laid out in detail six proposed resolutions,” said Dr. Fred McGhee, an archaeologist, anthropologist, and local neighborhood activist. “None have seen action.”

Those resolutions included:

  • The establishment of a Low-Income Housing Trust Fund
  • The implementation of East Austin Conservation and Historic Preservation Districts to restrict land use
  • The creation in 2,000 low-income housing units by the end of 2018, utilizing eight parcels of city-owned land
  • The enactment of Right to Return and Right to Stay Programs
  • The establishment of Interim Land Restrictions in East Austin to prevent flooding and environmental degradation
  • The enactment of a local Environmental Quality Review Program to ensure environmental justice

During their gathering, the authors of The People’s Plan demanded three structural changes intended to push our local leaders into action:

  1. The City of Austin should establish and fund an Anti-Displacement Section under its Equity Office, with the mission, expertise, and independence to take effective action on The People’s Plan.
  2. The City of Austin should establish a $75 million Low-Income Housing Trust Fund with city bond and other funds dedicated solely to preventing displacement among low-income households.
  3. The City of Austin should establish a Low-Income Housing and Anti-Displacement Commission to oversee the above efforts, and it should consist of low-income residents and community leaders committed to preventing displacement.

Thousands of families have been pushed out of Austin since the introduction of The People’s Plan, but it’s not too late for City Hall to take meaningful action. “The time is always right to do what is right,” in the words of Dr. King.

Will our elected officials hear them?