Austin News

Finding housing in Austin is not for the faint of heart or light in the wallet, which makes organizations such as Accessible Housing Austin indispensable.

John Zenor brought that out to the forefront in his podcast Inside Austin recently and set the stage by providing the lay of the land as it were when it comes to housing in Texas’ first city.

“In June, the average rent in Austin was $1,330 per month. The median price per home of a home sold in Austin is $405,000 according to Zillow when I looked it up yesterday,” he said. “Austin housing is expensive which means that for many it is downright unaffordable. And Austin’s lack of affordability can be an even greater challenge for someone that is disabled.”

| File photo

And that is where Accessible Housing Austin comes in. Representing the organization was Jolene Keene, the executive director, who provided an overall view of what it stands for.

“Our mission is to provide affordable, accessible and integrated housing for Austinites who are disabled and/or of low income,” she said on the podcast. “We currently have nine units of affordable housing throughout Austin and we are in the process of building 27 more at an apartment in Winter Park called AHA! at Briarcliff.” 

Keene said the new apartments have already broken ground are almost done with construction. Leasing is expected to begin in November. Most of the housing for Accessible Housing is in South Austin but there are properties throughout the city. The organization itself has a rich history and has been a leader in the fight for disability rights.

“Accessible Housing Austin is the brainchild of Adaptive Texas,” Keene said on the podcast. “Adapt is a nationally known, disability rights organization that was very instrumental in creating the Americans Disability Act. In 2005 we received two homes, we call them our legacy properties. They were donated to us from two ardent disability right activists. JT Templeton and Carol Eisenberg. They passed away and left their homes to Adapt and Adapt created Accessible Housing Austin to rehabilitate and manage the homes with the understanding they would go to disabled or low-income homes.”

Accessible Housing puts a focus on integrated living. It wants to see its disabled residents be able to live and co-exist among others. In terms of residents, there have been those who have been with Accessible Housing Austin for years and some cases where it has been transitional. Those interested in the new apartment can begin making plans to apply.

“We don’t have a waiting list, but we do have a contact list.” Keene said on the podcast. “So if folks want to get in touch with us the best way right now is to email housing@ahaustin.org and one of our staff members will get back in touch with you to put your name on our contact list and as soon as applications are made available, then we are going to contact everybody on our call back list.”