AUSTIN (KXAN) – Amplify Credit Union announced Friday the completion of a new affordable housing community in Williamson County and hopes it starts a trend. 

The Mustard Seed Community in Round Rock is part of an effort with the assistance of Austin-based bank Amplify Credit Union. There are 28 two-bedroom homes, and those in the community have a locked-in rental cost of $1,375 per month –  $400 cheaper than the current average rate in Round Rock for a two-bedroom rental.

“There have been folks that have said, ‘I’ve never seen anything like this before, how do I become a part of it?’ So within days of putting it up online, it was 100-percent occupied, rented out,” said Joseph Claypool, founder of the  Mustard Seed Community 

The community prioritized people who need affordable housing the most – like students, frontline workers, and first responders.

Rene Flores of Amplify Credit Union said the bank will look for similar opportunities for developing affordable housing projects in the future and hopes other developers might follow suit. 

“There’s always value in having a place of your own – a place to come home to at the end of the day, where you feel safe and you feel secure,” he said. 

“The fact that in the area, [there are] so many new people in the housing world – first responders, teachers, kids in school, fresh out of school – that just need a place and want something different. But we saw this as just a chance to kind of stick our toe in it,” Flores continued.