AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin leaders joined a community coalition pushing for an affordable housing bond proposition on the November 2022 ballot Thursday.

According to a City of Austin memo, the $300 million proposition would have an annual impact on “the typical homeowner of $40.14.” A typical home in Austin is defined at $448,000 with a taxable value of $358,400, including a homestead exemption.

“We’re hemorrhaging people. We’re just losing a lot of the diversity. That makes this city special,” Austin Mayor Steve Adler said Thursday. “One of the most successful proven tools we have in this city is affordable housing and affordable housing bonds.” 

The memo said, as of July 2022, Austin has approximately $1.65 billion of authorized but unissued (ABU) bonds associated with prior bond elections.

Save Austin Now co-founder Matt Mackowiak said cutting red tape is a better way to get cheaper housing.

“The answer is not saddling taxpayers with $300 million in debt and building a small number of affordable houses and cherry picking who gets to live in them,” Mackowiak said. “We need to streamline permitting we need to increase the size of the development office we need to cut development fees we need to make it easier to build housing more quickly more efficiently in Austin.”

According to a Realtor.com report, Austin’s starter homeownership cost was 97.8% ($1,822) higher than the median rental price in June.