AUSTIN, Texas — Cultural center and bookstore Casa de Resistencia – or House of Resistance – was packing up all day Thursday.
The executive director of the nonprofit said their rent doubled suddenly, and they needed help finding a new place.
"Austin itself is becoming more and more expensive," Lilia Rosas said. "Expensive for the people who live here, expensive for people who run small businesses, expensive for artists."
The cultural center has been around for 36 years and it's been a safe haven for a lot of different types of people – specifically Hispanics, Native Americans and Mexican Americans.
This is the second time they've had to move because of increased rent.
"When people walk in here, you can't tell anymore because we're packing up. They say this feels like home. This is familiar," Rosas said.
Casa de Resistencia is one of the only cultural centers of its kind in Austin and even in Central Texas. Rosas said you won't be able to find this literature in any normal bookstore.
"There's parts of my story that I never got to really learn, but you have the books here," Rosas said.
The sudden rent increase forced Rosas and many others to seek help paying for moving expenses and rent. Now they're packing up and have signed on a new lease, but Rosas said it's still upsetting.
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"I think just the one going escalation of rent and property taxes and just the hyper-gentrification that exists here makes you kind of wonder, 'Oh, wow. I don't know if I'm going to make it here anymore,'" Rosa said.
"I think Austin would be missing out on its Chicano soul," said Diana Gomez, a longtime volunteer at the center. "When I think of Resistencia, the title means resistance. It's an activist space to me."
Rosas is thankful the center is safe for now but hopes things will change for business owners.
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