In the face of tuition increases and lean economic times, many students turn to affordable housing such as cooperatives when looking for a place to live. A proposed change to the MF-4 zone, which includes West Campus, could slow down and even hinder some affordable student housing from being built in the future.
Proposed by the Central Austin Neighborhood Planning Advisory Committee, or CANPAC, the proposal would make group residential properties in the MF-4 housing zone conditional, which means they would be required to obtain permits from the Planning Commission on a case-by-case basis.
"What they want to do is to make a decision that would basically make you have to get permits to build cooperatives or fraternity and sorority buildings," Cheyenne Dansby, Taos Cooperative Board Representative, said. "It's a really difficult thing to do because it takes years and lots of money, and co-ops don't have a lot of money anyway."
Current group housing properties, including existing cooperatives as well as Greek houses, would be exempt from the change, but if they wish to expand or remodel in the future they may be forced to obtain permits for their current property as well. It has been said that the existence of high-density student housing lowers property value in the area for single-family residences.
The decision, which is to be voted on by Austin City Council, has been pushed back several times for a multitude of reasons. The current vote is tentatively set for December, but co-op residents plan to request a delay until February in order to allow students to participate at a time when school is in session. Representatives from CANPAC declined to comment on the decision.
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