BASTROP, Texas — Tom Leibowitz and Jodie Smith are a husband and wife team, who run an organization called Homes for Good which expands affordable housing options for lower income households.
“What we’re seeing here in Bastrop is a need for increased housing supply because there hasn’t been a lot built,” Leibowitz said.
Leibowitz and Smith bought property to use for a development project they call North End Prairie. The development is for families who earn up to 80% of the area’s median income.
“In the Bastrop area, that’s part of the Austin regional area for median income and for a family of four, 80% median income is around $97,000, $98,000,” Smith said.
The development would be located between Pecan and Hill Streets, which is just south of Linden Street in Bastrop. It would have between 45 and 50 homes and would feature a mixture of single family homes and duplexes.
But not all Bastrop residents support the idea.
Heather Greene lives next to where the development would be located. While she recognizes the need for affordable housing, she has concerns when it comes to parking, traffic and flooding risks.
“I’ve lived here for my entire life and I know that there are lots of places [where] we could do that,” Greene said. “I just don’t feel like doing it in a neighborhood that’s already very developed.”
While Leibowitz and Smith plan to address the community’s concerns, Greene wants more people to listen.
“The benefits that will come to all those hardworking families that are going to be able to live here will far outweigh any minor inconvenience that people may face,” Leibowitz said.
“Just because we’ve been there for a long time doesn’t mean that we should be looked over,” Greene said.
It is attempt at finding answers to affordability issues, while facing the hard questions.
Leibowitz and Smith told KVUE they are still waiting to get regulatory approval from the city to put in streets and utilities.
There will be a town hall meeting on March 31 at the Bastrop Convention Center at 6 p.m. to discuss the development.
Boomtown is KVUE’s series covering the explosive growth in Central Texas. For more Boomtown stories, head to KVUE.com/Boomtown.