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'Keep Austin Affordable' pushes bond package in November

The city manager is proposing an $816 million bond package for November, with $161 million of that for affordable housing.

AUSTIN — AUSTIN -- When native Austinite Jennifer Hidrogo needed a place to go … “This is where I came to,” she said, referencing the land on which her grandmother’s home once sat.

"Though we were in a small space, we had a safe place,” said Hidrogo.

She and her children moved in with Hidrogo's grandmother on Live Oak Street in South Austin about five years ago. She was leaving an abusive relationship. But after her grandmother's death in 2016, the home was sold by family members.

Construction now takes its place. After the property was sold, it left Hidrogo without a place to call her own.

"We were homeless,” she said. “I felt so low.”

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She spoke at the "Keep Austin Affordable" rally Thursday morning about Austin's programs to help people like her.

Several city leaders support a bond election to fund more affordable housing.

"We have big affordability challenges,” said Austin Mayor Steve Adler. “We need the courage to step forward with answers.”

The city manager is proposing an $816 million bond package for November, with $161 million of that for affordable housing.

Council member Ellen Troxclair said, however, a bond would basically raise “taxes on everyone else in the community.”

She adds that the city should lower the tax burden.

“I have concerns that we have money left over from previous affordable housing bonds that haven’t been spent yet,” said Troxclair.

Whatever the solution is, Hidrogo is grateful for her new home provided by Foundation Communities.

"I feel blessed,” she said. “I do. I feel like I can breathe.”

She moved from Live Oak Street to Live Oak Trails Apartments. At her apartment, she keeps a piece from her grandmother's home in a frame.

“She would say that she's proud,” Hidrogo said about her grandmother. “And that I can do it.”

Austin City Council will take up a resolution related to the recommended bond package on June 28.

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