University Democrats and the Austin Urbanist Association sent a joint letter to the Austin City Council on March 28 asking for an expansion of the student housing supply around college campuses. 

“Smart, young people across our state move to Austin to pursue higher education and participate in our vibrant culture,” the groups state in the letter. “We pride ourselves on educating much of our state, yet our housing costs are turning away many working class students from seeking higher education or forcing them to take on higher levels of debt.”

The letter asks the city council to expand on the 2018 University Neighborhood Overlay that created 800 affordable units for qualifying students. It proposes four areas to incorporate into the UNO plans that could benefit all Austin college students, according to Brian Pena, the vice president of University Democrats. 

“Students should have affordable housing because (they’re) students, regardless of where (they’re) at,” said Pena, a government and accounting junior.

According to the letter, the 2018 UNO areas allow thousands of students to live near the University with rents that increase more slowly than other units in West Campus. It states UNO created one of the most pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods in the city. Because of this, AURA board member Felicity Maxwell stressed the importance of implementing more units. 

“UNO’S been on the books for a while now,” Maxwell said. “There’s certain places that got left out, which was fine, but there are certain unintended consequences you end up with, like the affordability issue.”

According to real estate website Zumper, the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in West Campus is $1,895, an 8% increase from last year. A 2022 Student Government report found one in three students faces food insecurity and with Austin’s cost of living crisis expanding to once-affordable suburban areas in the city according to Central Health’s 2022 Demographic Report, Pena said this was a critical time to send the letter.

Earlier this year, District 5 council member Ryan Alter announced a plan to work with local universities to look into the affordable student housing shortage as a part of Austin’s Strategic Housing Blueprint. It would explore ways to prevent financial concerns from forcing residents out of the city, aligning with the letter University Democrats and AURA sent.

The city council is currently in talks with the University about creating more student housing in West Campus under UNO without raising rent for residents. While Alter said this three-year-long construction process will help students, he confirmed the University has the highest amount of student housing actively being built with 5,500 units in construction. 

“(Our growth) is largely due to what we have allowed to happen in West Campus because of the University Neighborhood Overlay,” Alter said. “We absolutely need to see not only how we know it is working and what improvements can be made, but how can we apply that elsewhere?”