Public Participation In City Anti-Displacement Efforts (AUS0008)

Commitment 3: Public Participation In
City Anti-Displacement Efforts
To further the city’s Strategic Plan goal of Economic Opportunity and Affordability and the UN
Sustainability Goal of Reduced Inequality, we commit to fostering transparency and participation
by improving online and in person access to housing services.

3.1 Current Problem:
The Department of Neighborhood Housing and Community Development has received over 300
recommendations for actions that could become part of an actionable anti-displacement
strategy, however the city does not know how different strategies will work in different
neighborhoods, and how each neighborhood can best access available resources.

3.2 Main Objective:
The Department of Neighborhood Housing and Community Development received community
requests for an online portal for housing availability information and a streamlined housing
application process. Over the next two years, staff will work with neighborhood community
members and citywide to make these technology resources available online and in person with
social service agencies, with lessons to be learned for neighborhoods across the city.

3.3 Commitment Description:
The city will utilize resources made possible by the Bloomberg Philanthropies-funded Innovation
Team (iTeam) to provide on-the-ground research in the city’s Montopolis neighborhood. In this
community, at least 199 renters and 144 homeowners are currently at high risk of displacement
(Guadalupe Neighborhood Development Corporation, Right to Remain, 2018.).
City staff will work with community to develop approaches and solutions that meet community
members’ needs. The effort will include quantitative and qualitative methods to co-create and
test community-driven solutions with residents, community groups, and city staff. This early
collaboration is designed to ensure successful implementation and sustainability of initiatives,
while building city staff and stakeholder capacity.
The accountability cadence will include regular meetings attended by community and city
department representatives.

3.4 Anticipated Transformative Results:
● Open Government Partnership Values (2020):
○ Open the public’s role in identifying the resources most useful to individuals at
risk of losing their housing (Open Government Partnership: Civic Participation)
○ Improve the public’s ability to locate, understand, select, and benefit from those
anti-displacement resources (Open Government Partnership: Transparency)
● City Strategic Plan Metrics (2023):
○ Maintain or improve the number of residents whose income is less than 60
percent median family income (MFI) residing in the City of Austin and incorporate
future displacement metrics (City Strategic Plan 2023: Economic Opportunity &
Affordability goal’s Housing indicator and Economic Mobility indicator categories)
● United Nations Goals (2030):
○ Empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all,
including the homeless, irrespective of economic or other status (United Nations
Goal 2030: Reduce Inequalities)

3.5 Collaborators:
Civil Society partners:
● Lead: Austin Community Design & Development Center, Contact: Nicole Joslin,
Executive Director
● Guadalupe Neighborhood Development Corporation
● Montopolis Resident Steering Committee
● Building and Strengthening Tenant Action (BASTA)
● Go! Austin / ¡Vamos! Austin (GAVA)
● Faith-based neighborhood institutions
● Neighborhood associations
Government:
● Lead: Neighborhood Housing and Community Development, Contact: Kerry O’Connor,
City of Austin Innovation Officer & Jonathan Tomko, NHCD
● City of Austin iTeam
● City of Austin Planning & Zoning Department
● City of Austin Economic Development Department
● City of Austin Innovation Office

3.6 Exploration Questions:
Open questions that we may need to answer in order to reach our desired outcomes include:
● Do neighborhoods in different stages of gentrification require a specifically designed
approach to anti-displacement policies, programs, and services?
● If the content and communications from the City were made more accessible, would
neighbors take advantage of services that would help end displacement?
● What metrics best measure the effectiveness of anti-displacement actions and
strategies?

3.7 Project Milestones: (see Appendix for phase descriptions)
3.7.1 Clarify Phase: Spring 2019
Expected deliverables:
● Continue winter 2019 desk research to synthesize the work and recommendations done
to date
3.7.2 Framing Phase: Summer 2019
Expected deliverables:
● Research will generate a Synthesis Report, Engagement Plan, and Prototyping and
Testing Plan
3.7.3 Conceive/Prototype/Test Phase: Fall/Winter 2020
Expected deliverables:
● Test and prototype anti-displacement recommendations
3.7.4 Plan/Build Phase: 2020
Expected deliverables:
● Develop prototyping and testing plans for other neighborhoods, based upon lessons
learned from neighborhood engagement
● Identify how different strategies perform in different stages of gentrification found in
different neighborhoods