Tuesday, January 27, 2026, 10 a.m. (Austin time), Austin City Hall
Committee: Housing and Planning Committee
The Housing and Planning Committee held a special called meeting on January 27, 2026. The committee approved the minutes of its September 16, 2025 meeting and adopted a proposed 2026 meeting calendar of February 10, April 14, June 2, October 13, and December 1, all subject to change. Members then identified items for future meetings. Chair Natasha Harper-Madison proposed examining the City's protocol around Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) properties whose HUD contracts and affordability restrictions are expiring, including potential City interventions to help keep units affordable. Council Member Vela requested future Gantt chart updates from housing and planning staff, and Council Member Ellis requested future reporting on the HOME and Site Plan Light initiatives. The meeting adjourned at 10:46 a.m.
0:02 Madison Council Member for district one on the Austin City Council, and I have the honor of being
0:07 the chair for the housing and planning committee.
0:10 Um, I am calling to order our housing and planning committee meeting today, January 20, 27th, or, ooh,
0:18 you guys don't fast forward, Natasha.
0:20 January 27th, 2026. This is our special called meeting, um, of the housing and planning committee.
0:27 And we're calling it to order at 10:34 am um, we're convened right here in City Council chambers at
0:33 3 0 1 west second street.
0:36 And again, um, like I said to Council Member Ellis, this is gonna be a relatively short meeting.
0:41 I'm joined by Council Member Siegel here on the day, and I think Council Member, uh, Vela is
0:46 threatening to try to join us virtually also.
0:49 Uh, and we're obviously, um, joined virtually by Council Member Ellis.
0:53 We're gonna begin with public communication.
0:55 Last I checked, we didn't have anybody signed to signed up to speak.
0:59 That's correct. No speakers.
1:00 Thank you. I appreciate it.
1:01 Just as a matter of course, um, about process, we, generally speaking, extend the opportunity for folks to,
1:08 uh, to take the floor and present for the committee.
1:11 Each speaker has three minutes, um, and they speak to items on the agenda, but today we don't
1:16 have any, in which case, um, we are gonna move on to our first agenda item, which is,
1:24 um, uh, housing and planning committee item double zero one.
1:28 That's approval of the minutes from our September 16th housing and planning committee meeting.
1:33 Um, do I have a motion?
1:34 Motion is made by Council Member Siegel, seconded by Council Member Ellis.
1:39 Um, all those in favor say aye.
1:42 The ayes have it.
1:43 We are unanimous with everybody present, including Council Member Ellis who's joining us virtually.
1:48 Um, the minutes are approved and will be filed with the city clerk in accordance with our code.
1:53 Um, up next is item number two, that's hpc oh zero two.
1:59 That's discussion and possible action regarding setting the housing and planning committee meeting dates for the calendar year
2:08 of 2026. That's this year.
2:09 So the item before us is for discussion and possible action.
2:13 Um, does anyone wish to offer a motion move by Council Member Siegel and seconded by Council Member
2:20 Ellis? Um, the motion carries at the time, so the, the calendar that we're looking at does every,
2:26 did everybody get the opportunity to take a look at the potential dates?
2:31 Um, oh, thank you.
2:34 Do we have any, let me see.
2:36 I'll read those out just in case anybody's eyeballs are challenged black mine.
2:45 So the proposed dates are February 10th, April 14th, June 2nd, October 13th, and December 1st with all dates subject to change as
2:57 needed. Um, I'm gonna operate under the assumption that those of us who are here with no conflicts
3:04 to date, um, are voting unanimously for the proposed calendar.
3:09 Do you mind if we see Council Member morales's face?
3:13 Yes. Some voting in favor.
3:15 Excellent. Um, and with that unanimously, we we're going to adopt the calendar for the 2026 year understanding
3:21 that, um, with committee member Vela absent, uh, at this meeting and that, um, the dates are subject
3:29 to change in the future as needed.
3:32 All righty. Um, so, uh, we have one final item and that's where we take the opportunity to
3:42 identify, um, items to discuss at future meetings.
3:46 And, um, I have an item that I'd like to, uh, propose that we take a look at,
3:50 but I'd certainly like to defer to the other members of the committee for items that we can
3:55 consider in 2026.
4:01 Alrighty. And I'm seeing that, um, so far so good on hands raised, but you know, this is
4:06 the kind of thing where we have the opportunity to communicate with one another throughout the course of
4:10 the year and with our, our liaison to make changes to the agenda as needed.
4:15 Um, what I'd like for us to do is take a look at, um, our litech, um, that's
4:22 low income housing, uh, tax credit, property, um, protocol, so to speak.
4:29 So, um, just by way of the rationale, it occurred to me that, you know, as some of
4:36 the properties in our respective districts as those low income housing tax credit properties, income restricted, uh, properties,
4:44 um, as their federal contract.
4:47 So their contract with hud is what covers the cost of those in those housing choice vouchers.
4:53 So as those apartment complexes and their contracts come to a close, um, the, the complex has the
5:01 opportunity management has the opportunity to extend the contract or to convert those units from income restricted to
5:08 market rate. And while you know this, we're talking about private real estate, so to speak, you know,
5:14 we don't have a lot of opportunities in my mind's eye to intervene.
5:18 Um, but I'd like very much to know what are our opportunities for intervention.
5:22 So there's not, um, there's not any expectation on my part that we are somehow going to, um,
5:31 defeat or interfere with, uh, with some of these properties converted into market rate.
5:36 But I would like to know what interventions, especially considering that the city, we already do something, which
5:42 is awesome, and that we catalog these properties.
5:45 I was able to get from our housing, um, folks, they were able to produce a catalog of
5:51 these properties. And Council Member Ellis, I was telling Council Member Siegel already, I'm happy to share this,
5:56 this, um, spreadsheet. Um, hi Council Member Vela.
6:00 Hey, I'm made it, you made it.
6:02 I'm not sure how much you heard, but, um, we were just talking about items for future consideration
6:07 and I was talking about, um, our protocol around litech properties.
6:11 Essentially what I'm saying is as they are coming to a close, what do we do?
6:15 And so a closed by way of their hud contracts is what I'm referring to.
6:20 And so I was just saying I have this opportunity to look at this spreadsheet that refers to,
6:25 um, our city of Austin council districts, um, the affordability expiration year, the state of texas basic affordability,
6:35 uh, expiration year. And so essentially what I'm saying is if we know, so for example, Council Member
6:41 Vela, I'm looking at 'em as they're broken out by district immediately what I see on this spreadsheet
6:46 is you have two right at the top of the spreadsheet who's affordability expired into 24, and then
6:52 skip down a couple lines.
6:53 You have another one that expired in 25, and then a couple that expire in 26.
6:57 So essentially what I'm saying is by way of us having this data already readily available, I wanna
7:04 see what the opportunity, where the opportunity May lie for us to add an additional couple of layers
7:11 there. So these properties coming up, you know, their affordability potentially coming up for expiration in my mind's
7:19 eyes should at some point trigger an alarm.
7:22 And then we, you know, make some assessments about whether or not it's gonna continue to be affordable
7:27 or not. And in cases where it's not, in my mind's eye where I saw an opportunity for
7:33 intervention is, you know, how we get these, um, low income, we get these tax credit property applications
7:38 or notifications from the people developing them.
7:41 Um, recognizing that those are gonna be oftentimes in close proximity to these that are coming up for
7:47 a close on their, um, tax credits.
7:50 Is there an opportunity for us to sort of play broker, for example, you know, I know we're
7:56 not in the business of real estate, but is there an opportunity for the municipality to help folks
8:02 whose properties are coming up or converting to market rate move over into continued naturally occurring affordable housing?
8:11 Um, and I don't know what the answers are.
8:13 I mean, and I, you know, I always got ideas <laugh>, um, but I don't know whether or
8:17 not any of them are viable.
8:19 Um, so I'd like very much to bring forward this item for our housing folks to talk us
8:23 through. Is there an opportunity here, obviously low cost, um, and high impact opportunity here for us to,
8:35 um, for us to add an additional layer to our suite of options that help people maintain affordability
8:41 in the city of Austin.
8:42 And that's the only item that I'm bringing forward at this time.
8:46 Council Member Vela, did you have any items that you'd like to add to our future considerations?
8:51 Uh, no, not right now.
8:53 I know it wasn't on this, but like just the gantt chart updates, I always, you know, like
8:56 those and, and, and think those are, uh, uh, helpful and I know that, I know we've burned
9:00 through a lot of those items at this point, but it, it would, it's always good to hear
9:03 from housing and, and, and planning and, and where we're at and stuff.
9:07 Uh, by the way, uh, uh, chair, I would love to, uh, uh, if you could share that
9:11 list with me of the, of the litech properties that are expiring, uh, that would be great too.
9:17 You bet. I'll share it with all of you.
9:18 In fact, um, I'll encourage, uh, staff to share it with all our colleagues.
9:23 Um, 'cause like I said, it is separated out by district and I think could be helpful.
9:27 Great, great. And the only only other comment that I would have that, I mean, given the age
9:32 of some of those properties in the, in the area that they might be, uh, they, they May
9:37 fall into that naturally occurring affordable housing now.
9:39 And, and, and I mean that would be my hope, but it it would be great to see
9:42 a list. Yeah, exactly.
9:44 Um, uh, data is always helpful.
9:47 Alright folks, so with that, oh it counts.
9:50 Member Ellis, I thought of something while, while we were discussing those items, please share, um, specifically around
9:57 the home outcomes and site plan light outcomes.
9:59 I know that we've put in some thresholds for reporting so that we can see how productive those
10:04 new efforts are being.
10:05 And so I think it might be helpful at the appropriate cadence to have those on our agenda.
10:10 I know we put in some deadlines, whether they're annually or every six months to see how those
10:15 programs are working. I would love to see those, uh, come back to us at some point.
10:21 I appreciate that. So, you know, as Council Member rivera was making his commentary, it occurred to me
10:24 to, you know, shoot out a note to our liaison to ask.
10:28 'Cause I know that there's some degree of regular cadence for us to get those, um, the gantt
10:34 chart reports updates. Um, so I, I wanted to ask about that.
10:38 But to your point, Council Member Ellis, we can also ask about, um, site plan light and home,
10:44 um, I guess efficacy updates.
10:47 You know, are I, I mean maybe without it being edit, edit editorialized, they can just tell us
10:53 what the data is, what do the numbers look like?
10:56 Um, and so I guess the question I would have for you is, um, is there, given the,
11:06 do we want to increase the frequency of those updates in 2026 or are we saying that there's
11:13 just been enough of a lag in between the last update that we need to make certain that
11:17 we don't have as much of a lag moving forward?
11:18 I'm just wanting to know if there's something we can fix here about our cadence.
11:22 It's a great question and I, off the top of my head, don't have memorized the exact cadence,
11:27 but I remember during our August budget discussions, I believe the Mayor had read out the initial report
11:34 for the home initiative.
11:35 But I don't remember that we were able to have much conversation around are we hitting our targets?
11:40 What are those and is there any recalibration necessary?
11:44 I know specifically around site plan light, we did a lot of work with the drainage review mm-hmm
11:49 <affirmative>. But the utility review is something that I need to double check on where those conversations are,
11:55 how we're dealing with setbacks, metering, you know, other, other sorts of conversations that I think are yet
12:01 to be determined and wanna make sure we, I don't forget about those.
12:05 'Cause I know that I carried the site plan light initiative and um, Council Member poole had carried
12:09 the home initiative and so we worked closely on it, but that one wasn't my football to carry.
12:14 And I just wanna make sure I'm not, uh, missing something that we could be doing to be
12:19 helpful. I really appreciate that.
12:22 I really appreciate that.
12:23 And I think, uh, you articulated very clearly the kind of data that we'd look to have some
12:27 reporting back on. And it got me thinking that, you know, I've seen at least two emails being
12:34 distributed with discussions around potential changes moving forward with operations and varying departments that could affect some of