At the City of Austin Housing Department and City of Austin Planning Department, we love our work. Our team is full of passionate, energetic generators who have fearlessly answered a civic calling to lean into Austin’s strongest headwinds: affordability, equity, housing, and community planning.
Our team is a brave ensemble of doers working together every day to protect, plan and grow our beloved Austin community. Our mission is to partner with the community to shape a more equitable Austin and to prevent the displacement of people and services, using planning disciplines and affordable housing resources. And we do a ton of it:
- We repair and restore homes.
- We help Austinites become homeowners.
- We pay rent.
- We help people stay in their cherished communities.
- We protect historic places.
- We support and build affordable housing.
- We help design communities with intention.
- We review zoning changes that affect our community.
And we are in love with our work.
Working at the City of Austin Housing Department and City of Austin Planning Department requires serious civic-minded might. Austin’s growth is hurtling forward. Our staff uses optimism, resourcefulness, grit, curiosity, patience, creativity, and a true innovative spirit to mold that growth, harness it, and shape it while maintaining the Austin we know and love. We are calling for teammates who can dig in and tackle the tough stuff with us.
- Displacement Prevention Jobs
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What do we do?
If Displacement Prevention is done right, people who live in Austin right now stay where they are and thrive. But that isn't Austin's story right now. We feel it, live it, hear the news, and talk with our neighbors and families that the neighborhood changed. It got too expensive, unrecognizable, and businesses closed, homes and history were lost. With no choices and against their will, people are forced to leave Austin, and they lose more than what they leave behind. They lose their communities, connections, stability, safety, families, and opportunities.
The Housing Department's Displacement Prevention work is to actively engage in initiatives that keep people in Austin who want to stay. Some ways we do this are simple:
- help with rent,
- help tenants understand their rights,
- help provide resources for those experiencing the awful pressure of being forced out of their communities.
Some ways we do this work are a bit harder to see but are equally as impactful. We invest and grow community organizations and work on policies that ensure communities most vulnerable to being displaced are prioritized with helpful programs and real-world solutions.
Who are we looking for?
We are looking for people to join our team who are brave enough to tackle Austin's most pressing issues to build programs and support these anti-displacement efforts. This work requires energy, love for community, empathy, and bravery. Personal experience can be a very powerful informant of many of the fundamentals of anti-displacement work. We want people with fresh ideas for solutions grounded in that experience.
- Project Connect Jobs
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When new ways to get around a city are built (like rail lines and bus routes) it can bring significant improvements to traffic congestion and relieve some growth pressures. However, these improvements can spark new development, attract higher-income residents, and increase property taxes, rents, and business costs. What was once an affordable area may become unaffordable to low-income families, small business owners, and other vulnerable groups and lead to displacement. Austin’s voters approved a $7 billion transit system called Project Connect in 2020. To limit these undesirable impacts, voters also said that $300 million of that total investment should go toward anti-displacement strategies and investments related to Project Connect, protecting today's community from those potential issues.
Who are we looking for?
We are looking for people to join our team who can ensure our anti-displacement work is grounded in solutions that provide protection and benefits for those most vulnerable to displacement. We want team members who are brave enough to tackle Austin’s most pressing issues to build programs and support these anti-displacement efforts. This work requires energy, love for community, empathy, and bravery. Personal experience can be a very powerful informant of many of the fundamentals of anti-displacement work. We want people with fresh ideas for solutions grounded in that experience. - Real Estate & Program Delivery Jobs
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What do we do?
We are two super special city departments. Did you know that the City of Austin Housing Department and City of Austin Planning Department aren't just two city departments? Not very many people know we do triple duty! The same Housing and Planning staff work on behalf of a potent and practical authority called the Austin Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC).
This group allows the city to finance, buy, sell and develop affordable housing with community input and partner with developers who share that mission. But, this affordable housing isn’t just for anyone. The AHFC’s mission is to provide affordable housing solutions to those who earn low to moderate incomes, i.e., those who need it the most. The Texas Housing Finance Corporations Act, Chapter 394 of the Texas Local Government Code allows us to do this work, and we don’t mind if we say so, we are an awesome team doing amazing things for the Austin community. We buy Austin properties, listen to community ideas on what it should look like and incorporate those ideas into the vision for the right developer to build. We restore and redesign homes to make them safe sanitary and even sell some of them to people who have generational ties to the community. We work with developers to make it easier for them to build more affordable housing by waiving fees, offering extra incentives, and even partnering with them in the deals. We bring affordable housing to the City of Austin, and we are very proud of the work we get to do.
Who are we looking for?
We are looking for people to join our team who are energetic, and productive generators. This work requires energy, love for community, innovation, and resourcefulness. Having an analytical mind and digging into the details is part of our DNA. Taking in lots of information and coming up with a creative solution is always a valued characteristic of our teammates. We want people with fresh ideas for solutions grounded in the desire to help the Austin community grow equitably and inclusively.
- Inclusive Planning & Zoning Jobs
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What do we do?
At face value, the title "Planner" itself doesn’t quite capture the sheer gravity of the impact of our work on the community. Yes, Planners are analysts, and we can spend hours pouring over data, charts, tables, and statistics after the rest have long drifted off. Yes, we get SUPER excited about maps. Yes, we have a simple title for the hugely dynamic job of planning communities around the way people move, the way people live, the way people exist in an area. But we also build relationships with residents to understand their lived experience and connect them with tools and resources to shape the future they want for their community. We recognize planning has not always served residents in an equitable way and we are committed to shifting our practices to ensure different outcomes.The City of Austin Housing and Planning team is uniquely special because we utilize an orchestra of instruments like policy, design, human experience, equity, inclusion, form, function, regulatory environment, code restrictions, cost, practicality, and beauty in every aspect of our community.
Who are we looking for?
We are looking for people to join our team who are energetic, innovative, resourceful, and passionate about creating inclusive places. Having an analytical mind and innate patience helps wade through long processes and minute details. Skill in listening and connecting with people is crucial. Seeing the big picture of how many things happening at once can work together to affect outcomes is key. The capacity to take in lots of information and come up with creative solutions is always a valued characteristic of our teammates. We want people with fresh ideas for solutions grounded in the desire to help the Austin community grow equitably and inclusively.
- Urban Design Jobs
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What do we do?
Urban Design is the process of shaping a city’s physical form to create people-centered design solutions for effective placemaking. The principal elements that Urban Design examines include open spaces, streets, sidewalks and walkways, bridges and water bodies, historical features, trees and landscaping, and lighting and signage that all affect the quality of life in the public realm. It is the art of shaping cities, towns and neighborhoods with the goal of creating inclusive and equitable communities that serve people. While urban design looks at the physical nature of urban form, its principal goal is to elevate the human experience in public spaces. Urban designers assist in the creation of environments that are functional, inclusive, attractive, comfortable, animated, visually stimulating, safe, and ensure they all work as a system.
Who are we looking for?
We are looking for people to join our team who are skilled designers and communicators that can work collaboratively to solve complex urban problems at different scales. The urban designer will work with developers, architects, planners, traffic engineers, landscape architects, and transport planners, boards and commissions, and local communities to find design solutions and conflicts to create better spaces for people. We are looking for creative professionals with a passion for innovation as the City of Austin moves to update design standards, provides design consultation in major projects, and strives to shape equitable access to public spaces for all people.