Pro and con: HOME 2 brings out the speakers

The May 16 City Council meeting promised to be a long one, with four controversial changes to the city’s development rules and one much less controversial but important proposal creating rules for placement of electric vehicle charging stations.

Many of those who signed up in support or opposition of the various aspects of HOME 2 did not actually wish to speak. But as of Wednesday night, nearly 900 citizens had indicated they wished to register their opinions on Council’s attempt to make housing more affordable for a greater number of people via shrinking minimum lot sizes. And more than 100 more signed up on Thursday morning.

The Austin Monitor asked Felicity Maxwell of the urbanist advocacy group AURA, which supports HOME 2, and Monica Guzmán of Go Austin/Vamos Austin, which opposes HOME 2, what they had done to encourage so many citizens to sign up for what seems a complicated argument about land use policy.

Maxwell serves on the board of AURA, which strongly supported the HOME 2 proposals. AURA describes itself as an “all-volunteer grassroots urbanist organization focused on building an Austin for everyone by improving land use and transportation through policy analysis, public involvement, and political engagement.” The group was started in 2013 and was first known as Austinites for Urban Rail Action.

AURA sent out a lengthy email to supporters explaining what would be happening at City Hall on Thursday and promising to be available at 9 a.m. to answer questions and hand out coffee. They also provided a guide for people on how to give public testimony. Tips included “how to structure your testimony” on each of the HOME 2 items. These included notes on problems with the current Land Development Code, talking points on the Equitable Transit-Oriented Development proposal as well as on compatibility and affordability, and arguments to counter what opponents might be saying about the proposed rule changes.

Maxwell said her group has known that a decision on HOME 2 was coming for a while.

“Having spoken to Council members and Council staff, they wanted us to be really well organized for the meeting today,” she said. “So we’ve really been prepping and getting ready to get our members to come up and show their support.”

Maxwell said they were very pleased with the number of their members who signed up in favor of HOME 2. She said there were between 100 and 200 members on the list of speakers, with the majority of them just wanting to show their support but not wishing to speak.

As for Go Austin/Vamos Austin, its stance is that HOME 2 should not be approved without protections for people who rent their homes. Guzmán is policy director for Go Austin/Vamos Austin, which concentrates its efforts on affordability, gentrification, preventing displacement and promoting climate resiliency in East Austin. She is also a candidate for the District 4 Council seat.

“We have our GAVA community in our five ZIP codes and as our organizers are working, one issue that cuts across everything that we do is land use,” she said. “So after the 2019 lawsuit and the ruling came in in the spring of 2020, we did a policy statement about it. … A lot of people helped write that policy statement. That kicked off a series of policy discussions” on land use issues. She noted that GAVA works with other groups, such as PODER, and is part of the Community Powered ATX coalition.

As far as organizing in general, Guzmán said, “It’s about the organizers working with residents on finding ways to improve their health quality of life, bringing down health barriers.” Through her organizing, she said, her list of contacts has continued to grow.

“When the purple postcards started coming out,” she said, referring to cards notifying people of possible land use rule changes, “I sent an email to over 100 people and let them know to keep an eye out for the purple postcard.” She said she also created links so people could register their opinions with the Speak Up Austin platform. Once the agenda came out, they let people know “this is where GAVA stands.” Most of them can use their own talking points, she said, but the organization will help them if they need it. In addition, she said she has her own personal email list. Since April, Guzmán said she has been sending emails to more than 300 people.

Carmen Llanes Pulido, who is executive director of GAVA, noted that the organization had an intern recently who helped contact people about HOME 2. Llanes Pulido is also a candidate for mayor. Both addressed Council on Thursday, urging them not to approve HOME 2 without at the same time approving an anti-displacement overlay to protect vulnerable communities.

As of this writing, the meeting is ongoing.