The Acacia Cliffs apartments in Northwest Hills are an Austin treasure. Older but well-maintained and populated with trees, these apartments provide their residents with good, affordable housing in an area of Austin not known for that. In talking with members of this diverse community of students, seniors, young moms, and other single-paycheck tenants spread out over 290 units, the common theme is gratitude for the opportunity to have decent housing they can afford, even if barely. But they are fearful now.
On May 22nd, the City Council will consider a rezoning application (C14-2024-0181) that would destroy these apartments and replace them with 700 units, of which only 70 to 80 will be affordable, though not as inexpensive as today’s. The demolition of 290 hard-to-come-by, good, affordable units will displace residents and upend lives. Apart from the human tragedy, the worst part, which goes beyond irony, is that the apartments will be destroyed in the name of affordability under the City Council’s infamous Density Bonus 90 (DB90) zoning ordinance. That ordinance gives massive development entitlements in exchange for a mere 10-12% of affordable units. Here, as applied to Acacia Cliff’s existing affordable housing, it grants profit-generating entitlements in exchange for the net elimination of over 200 affordable units. To allow this to happen would be an abject failure on the part of the city council.
DB90’s terms state that it should only be used with commercial zoning, not existing residential zoning. There is another housing ordinance requiring greater amounts of affordable housing that applies to the redevelopment of residential zoning. City staff appears willing to let the developer “wink” its way around those policies by rezoning Acacia Cliffs to commercial, then DB 90. This tortures the language and intent of the ordinance.
We can’t let these affordable apartments be destroyed and our neighbors displaced. This is an all-hands-on-deck moment.
Call and email the Council and insist that they:
- Do not grant DB 90 zoning, but instead
- Indefinitely postpone this case to give time to find and implement options to save Acacia Cliffs for its residents. A responsible property owner should be willing to accommodate this request.
- Reform DB 90 to become an equitable tool for affordable housing.
Acacia Cliffs is exactly the housing this city needs. The City promised to look for avenues to conserve affordable housing over 8 years ago. It is time to deliver on that promise. They cannot claim to support affordable housing while destroying affordable housing.
Read more about Acacia Cliffs in the Austin Independent (Neighbors Seek to Avoid Destruction of NW Austin Apartment Complex – After Council Removes a Key Tenant Protection). The tenant’s narratives are reported in the Austin Free Press ( “Net loss”, “Raising Acacia”), and the American Statesman covers the protest against the upzoning and a reflection on the many years of the debate between redevelopment and the loss of affordable housing.
Individual emails for Mayor and Council
Mayor kirk.watson@austintexas.gov,
District 1 natasha.madison@austintexas.gov District 2 vanessa.fuentes@austintexas.gov
District 3 jose.velasquez@austintexas.gov District 4 chito.vela@austintexas.gov
District 5 ryan.alter@austintexas.gov, District 6 krista.laine@austintexas.gov
District 7 mike.siegel@austintexas.gov District 8 paige.ellis@austintexas.gov
District 9 zohaib.qadri@austintexas.gov, District 10 marc.duchen@austintexas.gov