33 percent less likely to give birth as unmarried teenagers
20 percent more likely to graduate from high school
62 percent more likely to acquire post-secondary education
24 percent higher income earners as adults

Safe and stable homes are the foundation of successful families and communities.

But owning a home is not possible for many of our neighbors. More than 25% of the city’s workforce earns less than $13.50 an hour. About 36% of Austin residents earn less than $34,550 a year, or 50% of Median Family Income.  As poverty has increased, housing costs have soared. In the past ten years, the median value of a single-family home has increased nearly 90% to $240,000. The average monthly rent for a 3 bedroom apartment is $1160. Only 35% of renter households can afford such rents without being costburdened.

As a result of the affordable housing crisis in our community, many families live in overcrowded, deteriorating apartments in crime-ridden neighborhoods.  Most of these families are spending the majority of their income on housing, and have little money remaining to pay for other basic necessities, such as food, healthcare, and clothing. Loss of a job or any unexpected expenses, such as a high medical bill, could mean an inability to make rent, forcing families to live in unstable transitional housing or worse...on the streets.

In addition, the homes that low income homeowners were able to afford 10 or 20 years ago are becoming increasingly difficult to maintain. Of all the homeowners in Texas, as many as 21 percent are low income residents with extremely high costs. A third of the low income homeowners have paid off their mortgages, but still pay more than 35 percent of their income on property taxes alone. This leaves little money for other basic necessities and most often no money at all for home repairs. Years of deferred maintenance cause communities to deteriorate into squalor.