Joint statement by the Austin Chamber of Commerce, the Real Estate Council of Austin, the Home Builders Association of Greater Austin, Goodwill Central Texas, and the Associated General Contractors of Texas-Austin Chapter on passage of the City of Austin budget

Austin, Texas (September 21, 2016) The Austin Chamber of Commerce, Real Estate Council of Austin, the Home Builders Association of Greater Austin, Goodwill Central Texas, and the Associated General Contractors of Texas-Austin Chapter wish to express our concerns about the negative impact on housing that the City of Austin’s $3.7 Billion budget creates.

We hear every day from our members about the challenges their employees face when have buying or renting in Austin. Currently (and historically) our city government does not process enough permits in a timely manner to build homes for the people who live here. Strangely, with this new budget, City Council actually added more red tape and cut funding for additional permitting support, which will make a bad situation even worse. The City cannot reduce housing supply and expect prices to stop escalating at an astonishing rate. The City’s budget decisions will continue to stifle supply and increase the cost of housing. We encourage the Council to reverse its decision to cut resources from the Development Services Department (DSD) immediately.

At last week’s budget hearing, a narrow majority of Austin City Council voted to cut significant funding and positions to the DSD including:

• Converted 1 new DSD position to Neighborhood Housing and Community Development position (Planning Officer).
• Cut 10 % from contractuals and commodities budget- $68,887
• Removed funding for Annual Customer Survey - $55,000
• Removed $250,000 from training, professional registrations and memberships.
• Removed funding for reclassification of key positions - $106,568
• Removed $235,000 (out of $450,000) of funding for the Third Party Plan Review and Inspection.

Those resources are vital to the success of this department, and while we fully believe that the Director is capable of implementing the department’s two-year action plan and the Zucker Report, we are growing increasingly concerned that he will not be equipped with the resources to achieve these goals.

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Luke Sheffield
Public Relations Manager
Austin Chamber of Commerce
lsheffield@austinchamber.com

Phil Thoden
President & CEO
Austin AGC
philt@agaustin.org

Naomi Bludworth
Communications Director
HBA of Greater Austin
Naomi@hbaaustin.om

Ryan Poulos
Director of Communications
Real Estate Council of Austin
ryan.poulos@reca.org

Traci Berry
Senior Vice President of Community Engagement & Education
Goodwill Central Texas
Traci.Berry@goodwillcentraltexas.org