Austin Housing Finance Corporation Meeting Transcript – 9/11/2025 Title: ATXN-1 (24hr) Channel: 1 - ATXN-1 Recorded On: 9/11/2025 6:00:00AM Original Air Date: 9/11/2025 Transcript Generated by SnapStream ================================== Please note that the following transcript is for reference purposes and does not constitute the official record of actions taken during the meeting. For the official record of actions of the meeting, please refer to the Approved Minutes. [11:23:45 AM] I will now call to order the board of directors meeting of the Austin housing finance corporation. We are meeting in Austin city hall, the city council chambers at 301 west second street in Austin, Texas. And we have all of the board members of the aafc. I will now look to staff for a presentation. [11:24:47 AM] for a presentation. >> Good morning, Mr. President. Madam vice president and board of directors, my name is Jamie may. I'm the housing and community development officer for the Austin housing finance corporation. I'm here to present your agenda for today, September 11th, 2025. Currently you have two items on the agenda. The first is the issuance of private activity bonds for the development of sycamores at pleasant valley. This would be in the amount of $25 million for dedicated 25900 pleasant valley lp. This would be for the construction of townhomes. And I'm sorry, this is for the construction of multifamily development. We will also make certain approvals due to recent legislation and approve related documents in substantially the form attached to the resolution, and authorize specific named representatives of the Austin housing finance corporation to execute the documents relating to issuance of the bonds and closing the transaction. Your second item is for the amendment to the agreement with Texas Rio grande legal aid [11:25:47 AM] Texas Rio grande legal aid incorporated for eviction representation and outreach services to increase the contract amount by $230,000, for a total contract amount not to exceed $725,000. And I offer both of these items on consent, and I'm happy to answer any questions. >> Members of the board, do you have any questions of our professional staff on this item? All right. In that case, the chair will entertain a motion to to approve the consent agenda as made by the vice president. Is there a second? Seconded by board member Ellis with that, is there any discussion? Yes. Vice president. >> Thank you. Colleagues, I just want to highlight this is another milestone moment for district two and the city's effort to bring affordable housing into dove springs. Earlier today, council approved the continuation of our anti-displacement community navigator program, which also will be in dove springs. And I think this is a great way for us as a city to continue our commitment to affordable [11:26:48 AM] commitment to affordable housing by bringing affordable housing into our dove springs area. So very pleased to see this move forward. >> Thank you. Any further discussion? Is there any we have two two speakers. Let me turn to the speakers. >> Thank you, mayor, for item one. Zenobia Joseph. And for item two, Zenobia Joseph. >> Thank you mayor. Council. Do you want me to speak to both at the same time? >> We'll set you four minutes. >> Thank you. Mayor, council. I'm Zenobia Joseph. My comments are specifically related to government code chapter 551.141, which is the affordability provision. I've given you a demand letter, and I would ask you to recognize that, mayor, specifically, this agenda item only has 49, which says that you'll recess the regular council meeting in order to take up the Austin housing affordable Austin housing finance corporation items. There is nothing in the kiosk [11:27:49 AM] There is nothing in the kiosk when an individual goes to register that, says Austin housing finance corporation. So the notice is not proper, and the people in the public have no way of knowing what it is that you're voting on. Secondarily, I would ask you to recognize that you don't even have a written hard copy for us to actually take a look at. So with that in mind, I would ask you to table this item and to repost it properly and to recognize that you have consistently done this. And I've brought this to your attention, but you have not changed your ways. Your methodology continues to avoid the provision that actually says that you have to post this information transparently, and specifically the other things that I actually noted in this demand letter specifies that on September 11th, which is today, it was not properly noticed. The other item that was of significance was August 15th, 2025. It's germane because it was the $118 million budget. I would ask you to repost that properly with all of the backup [11:28:50 AM] properly with all of the backup material as well. And most importantly, I would ask you to recognize that our presentations should be part of the agenda. It should be part of the archived record. And if you in fact have a problem with something that someone says, then the it staff should be able to bleep that information. Just like you have to redact information, you have to go through the proper channels. You have to go through the attorney general's office to get that redacted. You have unilaterally taken this out of the public domain. I honestly don't know when you started to take our presentations offline, but I would ask you to recognize and to retroactively go back and have the staff post it with the comments that the speakers have made as it relates specifically to item number one, the 5900 pleasant valley item. I just want you to know, this is approximately four miles from east Riverside and pleasant valley. And specifically, that is where you have hostile architecture, where the individuals are sitting on these slates that I showed you before. And I want you to recognize while you're talking about this affordable [11:29:50 AM] talking about this affordable housing, you're not sincere. I want you to remember that on October 17th, 2019, that is when council rezone 1308 units on east Riverside. October 23rd, 2019 is when Heather way, the law professor, actually said the gentrification in that area did not have to happen that way. So I want you to go to the UT news and for the new members on council, it would help if you actually did your homework because it specifies in that article this is the uprooted report. You have circumvented the law and you have misrepresented the information. In the uprooted report, Heather way and her colleagues told you what to do, and you did the opposite. So to Velasquez, who thinks that you're doing something great, I just want you to recognize that that report, the uprooted report, told you what to do so that you actually had affordable housing. But council did the opposite. So while I get that you're happy about dove springs getting affordable housing, the truth of the matter is that you are simply replacing the 1308 units that were removed when council chose to rezone one of the largest upzoning in the [11:30:51 AM] the largest upzoning in the city of Austin. As it relates to item number two, which is the Texas Rio grande legal aid. I am in opposition to that. I would ask you to recognize mayor specifically. African Americans are over six times more likely to be homeless in Austin than our white counterparts. You know, this information is in the homelessness report from 2024 and 2025. So I want you to recognize specifically that Marc Melton in Dallas county wins 96% of his cases because they staffed the docket and the JP courts. And so I would ask you to invite him and have a model that actually keeps people housed. If you have any questions, I'll gladly answer them. >> Thank you, miss Joseph. >> That's all. Speakers. Mayor. >> Thank you. Members. Those are all the speakers that have signed up to speak on the Austin housing finance corporation board of directors. Is there anyone wishing to abstain from a vote on the consent agenda? I have councilmember vela recusing himself on item number two. Councilmember vela is recusing himself on item number two. Is [11:31:51 AM] himself on item number two. Is there anyone else wishing to recuse themselves from a vote on any item on the consent agenda? Anyone wishing to be shown voting no on an item on the consent agenda in that case, without further discussion, without and without objection, the consent agenda of the Austin housing finance corporation is adopted, with council member vela being shown recusing himself from a vote on item number two. Thank you members. Without objection, that concludes all the business to come before the Austin housing finance corporation board of directors. So without objection, we adjourn the meeting of the Austin housing finance corporation for this September 11th, 2025 meeting at 1131.