The big picture
The 290-unit Acacia Cliffs sits on 10 acres of land at 7201 Hart Lane in Northwest Hills. Current residents have pointed to the complex as an example of naturally occurring affordable housing, where lower-income tenants can afford rent without any government subsidy or official income restrictions.
The property is currently zoned for multifamily use, meaning demolition for hundreds of modern replacement units could take place without any changes. However, property owner Price Realty Corp. is seeking to replace the aging property with 650 to 700 new apartments by rezoning under Austin's 1-year-old DB90 program that'd allow far more housing in a taller project up to 90 feet tall.
That increased density comes with a requirement to include ground-floor retail space, and for 10%-12% of units be income-restricted based on median family income, or MFI. For a four-person household in the Austin area, the median income is now $133,800.
Put in perspective
Acacia Cliffs tenants and other community advocates have rallied against the zoning plan this year given concerns about their potential displacement. They've also argued that dozens of new income-restricted units added under DB90 won't outweigh the hundreds of existing spaces on the ground.
Vianey Camorlinga, a resident and tenant association member, said rents that already sit in the 30%-40% MFI range today don't compare with DB90's 50%-60% MFI requirement, leaving working-class and older residents to be pushed out.
“Put simply, DB90 makes it profitable to displace and destroy housing that is truly affordable for diverse communities like ours all over Austin," she said at a May 8 rally at City Hall.
"If I get gentrified out of this neighborhood, I will have to try to find a place which will inevitably be further away from work, which means I spend more on gas, more on rent and I have less time to take care of myself," Gomez said.
Local officials have also weighed in on the process and the tradeoffs faced under DB90 since City Council approved it last year. A decision on Acacia Cliffs' DB90 zoning was narrowly postponed 6-3-2 on April 10, with several officials sharing reservations about the challenging case and the need for extra time to secure tenant demands like relocation compensation and affordable unit replacement.
Council member Ryan Alter voted against a delay, saying officials should secure some benefit while they can and avoid the "perverse incentive" allowing developers to propose new construction without DB90's income-restricted units.
"We passed a policy, this adheres to that policy," he said. "I don’t like the outcome; I think it’s great to have the affordable housing we have. But if we just drag our feet and then say, ‘OK, no more,’ we get nothing from a public benefit perspective other than maybe one or two years of this being available, and then it being torn down and there being no affordable housing."
District 10 council member Marc Duchen represents much of West Austin including the Acacia Cliffs property, and has worked with Price and tenants on the case. In a council message board post after the April postponement, he called DB90 the lesser of two evils given developers' ability to demolish and rebuild apartments at market-rate or luxury levels if rezoning isn't approved.
Duchen asked to once again delay action May 22 and give tenants more time to negotiate a deal, and also plans to seek DB90 revisions to ensure greater affordability and tenant relocation support.
"I believe the main cause of the Acacia Cliffs emergency is DB90, an ordinance that was designed to improve local affordability but, when impacting naturally occurring affordable housing, has worsened affordability since it went into effect last year," he said. "In cases like this DB90 gives land developers the freedom to demolish affordable housing in exchange for a woefully inadequate preservation of affordable units."
Representing Price, attorney and lobbyist Michael Whellan said the company aims to meet Austin's building requirements and has engaged with residents and Duchen's office to discuss the case so far. Redevelopment will take place, and housing could eventually "filter" to lower price ranges over time, he said, although far fewer units would be added under current zoning.
“Within 15 years, 20 years, you’ll start having naturally occurring affordability. You just won’t have 650 units that are beginning to decrease in price, you’ll have 290. You’ll have much less. And you won’t have the 78 on day one," he said in April.
Zooming out
Council members have signed off on dozens of requests for DB90 zoning since its creation, without several displacement protections initially proposed by city staff and supported by some in the community.
DB90 has been promoted by as a strategy to build up commercial or transit corridors and get affordable housing where it's needed in more parts of town; District 10 in particular has lacked affordable additions in recent years. DB90 cases have been routinely opposed by some residents, while other neighborhoods are welcoming such projects.
The Acacia Cliffs case is the latest example of debates over affordability and tenant protections under the program. Late last year, residents at a South Austin apartment complex successfully negotiated for housing location assistance and the right to return to their naturally affordable property following its redevelopment under DB90, with support from their council member José Velásquez.
"I believe as a dais, we can intentionally be pro-housing and anti-displacement," Velásquez said in December.
