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Retooling Affordable Housing Strategies Part 4 of 19

General Obligation Bonds in Austin

In Austin, the shortage of affordable housing has been aggravated by falling incomes and rising housing costs. In 2006, incomes dropped 4 percent while housing costs Forex Trading Strategy increased 10 percent. This mismatch between income and home prices gives Austin one of the highest cost burdens in Texas.

The Texas A&M Real Estate Centers housing affordability index shows the degree of affordability by city (Table 1). Dividing HUD median family income by the required income for homeownership, affordability in Austin (1.62) is better than the state average (1.55) but worse than Dallas (1.73), Fort Worth (2.23) and Houston (1.67). Furthermore, Austins housing authority currently reports that it has about 4,000 families on the public housing waiting list and 6,000 on the Housing Choice Voucher (Section list. Neighborhood Housing and Community Development (NHCD) Director Paul Hilgers says the affordable housing crunch is getting worse as the number of new citizens and jobs coming to Austin outpaces the number of available affordable housing units. Austin realized it had a problem, Hilgers says, and its citizens have taken action.

In November 2006, Austin voters approved a $55 million affordable housing bond program by 62 percent. As a result, the city will issue general obligation Scalping the E Mini Futures & Forex bonds allocated over seven years to fund the financing, acquisition, development or rehabilitation of safe, clean and affordable housing.

Financing

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