The city of Austin distributed a student housing survey that will be available until Nov. 13, giving the city’s higher education students an opportunity to provide feedback on housing needs.
A resolution passed this February directing the Housing and Planning Department to establish a citywide goal for student housing development and to report back actions the City Council can take to meet that goal.
Rachel Tepper, a principal planner in the Housing and Planning Department, said the resolution directs the housing department to work directly with the city’s College Student Commission and Austin’s universities to develop recommendations.
“We did the student survey because we wanted to have more input from the students about the issues that they’re going through,” Tepper said. “We’re also going to do some focus groups as well with the students so that we can … get that very important perspective.”
Tepper said the survey data will be separated by institution as well as undergraduate and graduate status to determine recommendations based on the specific needs of different student cohorts.
Tepper said possibilities include amending the University Neighborhood Overlay, a program incentivizing developers to build denser housing in West Campus provided they set aside 10% of units for low-income housing, to include clearer affordable student housing guidelines for private developers.
Council Member Ryan Alter of District 5, who wrote the resolution, said the survey results help determine if the overlay needs to change to meet the current affordable housing needs of students, as well as how it can be replicated to address housing needs around other campuses.
“There is a difference in student housing in that you are renting rooms, you’re not often renting the whole apartment,” Alter said. “I think it’s worth us asking the question of are we getting as much out of this bonus program as we can.”
The city will also explore partnerships with universities and make recommendations on how to address on-campus affordable housing needs, Alter said.
“(The city) has a lot of experience in developing or partnering with developers who build affordable housing,” Alter said. “We can be a valuable resource not only to help (universities) understand what options are available, but who would be the best partner.”
Edwin Bautista, UT alumnus and managing director of the West Campus Neighborhood Association, sat on the College Student Commission in 2021 when they initially recommended the council conduct a student needs assessment. Bautista said housing issues arose from the University’s lack of on-campus housing and imperfect accommodations by the city.
“One of the things … in West Campus is that even though there is more housing, the housing is not affordable for the average student … (despite) provisions like SMART housing,” Bautista said. “Also, a problem of the city’s lack of foresight in terms of what developers are willing to do for the sake of profit.”
Bautista said the limited time students remain in Austin makes the affordable housing fight difficult, but he hopes students get involved to push these kinds of initiatives forward.
“We have a responsibility to continue our efforts to push our collective needs and priorities forward to ensure that when we leave either the University or West Campus, these initiatives don’t leave with us,” Bautista said.
