AUSTIN (KXAN) — A proposed project in southeast Austin would bring roughly 150 new affordable housing units as the city tries to keep pace of building 60,000 new units by 2027.

The project site is right in the heart of the Dove Springs neighborhood on two different pieces of land that are separated by homes. The land sits between Pleasant Valley road and Nuckols Crossing Road, right across the street from Mendez Middle School. The Austin Housing Finance Corporation, a quasi-public non-profit entity created by the city, bought the two pieces of land in 2021.

The proposed plan is to build 96 affordable renting units and 46 affordable ownership units.

The Austin Housing Blueprint, passed in 2017, set a goal of building 60,000 new affordable units by 2027, but a status report in 2021 showed the city was off pace to meeting that goal.

This new project will be placed in district two of the city, an area that is supposed to build 4,492 new housing units, according to the housing blueprint. The 2021 status report showed the district had built 1,063 new housing units in a four-year stretch. To meet its goal, the district would have to build 572 new units every year.

Council member Vanessa Fuentes, of district two, is excited about the new housing projects coming to her district but thinks there needs to be more done.

“The reality is that we are not doing it at the rate that is needed, and we are not on track to meet the goals that we have set not only for our district but for Austin overall. So we need to make sure that we have affordable housing options in all parts of the city,” Fuentes said.

The newest project is still in the public outreach phase and is not set to be done until 2025.

The city’s Housing and Planning Committee will meet on Tuesday afternoon at 2 p.m. to get updates from the Housing and Planning Department. Fuentes said she will have questions about the efforts to meet the 60,000 new-housing goal.

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