AUSTIN, Texas — After a year of construction, a new mixed-income community is finally open in the St. John neighborhood in northeast Austin.
The “A at St. Johns” is located near a Capital Metro bus stop on East St. John Avenue. It's also within a half-mile of the St. Johns Community Center and a branch of the Austin Public Library.
The community includes six townhomes, three of which are income-restricted. Those three units have already been sold for $246,000 each, which is 80% of the median family income for the area. The three remaining townhomes are still for sale at market rate.
The units were made possible with funding from the Austin Housing Finance Corporation.
“We are excited to see continuing collaboration between the City of Austin, Capital A Housing and Constructinople Design + Build. It takes a village to create opportunity to provide stable housing so families can flourish," said Angela Means, interim deputy director of the Housing Department. “As a mixed-income community, these three units help us meet our affordable housing goals. Every unit counts in making sure our residents have homeownership options to stay in Austin.”
The community was built utilizing funding from the Ownership Housing Development Assistance program and the Affordability Unlocked development bonus program. The latter waives or modifies some development restrictions with the goal of increasing low- and moderate-income housing. It allowed developers of this project to build more units and reduce the setbacks and parking requirements, according to the city of Austin.
"Leveraging tools like the Affordability Unlocked program, housing bonds, and cross-subsidization using market-rate units to stretch city funds further, 'A at St. Johns' has become a reality. Priced at under $250K, these new construction, home-ownership units are unprecedented within a 15-mile radius and the first of their kind,” adds Conor Kenny, principal of Capital A Housing. "We're proud of this achievement and thankful for the backing of both current and former city council members, as well as the AHFC team.”
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