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Accessible, Affordable, Integrated Housing in Austin, Texas
Accessible Housing Austin!
Accessible Housing Austin! was founded in 2005 by disability rights advocates who recognized that the scarcity of housing was a critical issue for people with disabilities.
Accessible Housing Austin! serves a diverse range of Austinites with disabilities, including adults and children with mobility impairments, visual impairment, chronic illness, and other physical and emotional disabilities.
AHA! is the only housing non-profit in Austin led by members of the disability community.
Our mission is to provide affordable, accessible, integrated housing for low-income people with disabilities.
Briarcliff Apartments under construction
click images for a larger view AHA! at Briarcliff
AHA!’s scattered-site model allows our tenants be part of a neighborhood. Living in higher opportunity neighborhoods, they have access to shopping and public transportation; adults are close to community college, and children are close to good schools.
Our tenants actively participate in the life of the community: their children make friends with other children and their families enjoy neighborhood block parties.
MISSION STATEMENT
AHA! (Accessible Housing Austin) believes that we all deserve to live in homes that are not only safe and decent, but that allow us to exercise our rights to independence and dignity, that we can afford, and that allow our families to participate in our neighborhoods. For AHA!, the home is supported by three pillars: Accessibility, Affordability, and Integration.
Affordability
Affordability = Security and Stability
Our tenants are primarily people with disabilities who would otherwise be priced out of the current housing market or forced to live in institutions. Our housing alleviates the negative effects of poverty and removes uncertainty; our tenants pay rent that is proportional to their incomes, and AHA! accepts rental assistance vouchers (Housing Choice, Tenant-Based Rental Assistance, etc).
AHA! at Briarcliff is Underway!
Thirty-six percent of renters in Austin are cost-burdened by increasing rents. The median rent in Austin is $1,434 for a two-bedroom apartment. AHA! at Briarcliff seeks to address this by offering affordable, one and two-bedroom units for low-income families. Expected rents range from $430 – $1,121 per month.
