AUSTIN (KXAN)—Santa Rita Courts, one of the oldest public housing properties in the county, is about to undergo a multimillion-dollar redevelopment project.
The east Austin property will be transformed after more than 80 years, thanks to the city of Austin’s Housing Authority. It won a major tax credit last week, securing between $16-17 million to make this possible.
It came after input, and feedback from residents who live there. Lupe Garcia helped lead those discussions as the president of the Housing Authority’s east Austin Resident Council.
“I knew that they [the Housing Authority] were going to fight for us,” Garcia said. “Now we get to look like everybody else. We’re not going to be any different.”
Garcia has lived on the Santa Rita Courts property for nearly 10 years. So, leaving soon —temporarily —will be bittersweet.
“This is my home, we’ve grown together,” Garcia said. “I’ve seen little kids from the age of 4, and they’re in teenagers now.”
Garcia and her neighbors will temporarily move out by the end of the year.
“The units are small, the rooms are small, the doorways are small,” Ann Gass, Director of Strategic Housing Initiatives for the Housing Authority said. “There’s no central air conditioning. The accessibility for persons with disabilities is very, very limited because of this 1939 construction. So, we want we want to change all that.
Redevelopment in phases
Gass said the redevelopment will also include a new pre-K and community center.
“The most important thing just changing the quality of life for the residents who call Santa Rita home.”
Gass said Phase 1 will begin on the west side of the property. It’ll begin at the end of this year and is expected to be completed in 2027, according to Gass.
“The tax credit that we got last week will be for Santa Rita Courts West,” Gass said. “It will come back with 96 multi-family units, four stories…[‘and] if the funding works out, within a month of closing this deal, we will begin the Santa Rita Courts East phase.”
Gass said they hope to use the noncompetitive 4% low-income tax credit and bonds to fund the redevelopment project for the east side of the property. That’ll create a total of 200 affordable housing units, Gass told KXAN. There are currently 104 units.
-
Santa Rita kids 4.8.1950 Easter. Photo provided by: City of Austin Housing Authority). -
Santa Rita Group Sewing. Photo provided by: City of Austin Housing Authority). -
From Pedernales down Santa Rita. (Photo provided by: City of Austin Housing Authority). -
LBJ with Santa Rita Family. (Photo provided by: City of Austin Housing Authority). -
LBJ Visits Santa Rita 1939. (Photo provided by: City of Austin Housing Authority).
“There’s a pride in place, but there wasn’t a pride in these old buildings,” Gass said. “We feel it’s very important to honor the legacy of Santa Rita and what it has meant for the last 85 plus years, and also to allow the residents who live here today to go on living here.”
A place residents are proud to come home to
Feedback was a key factor in determining what the redevelopment project would look like.
“One of the things we heard from from kiddos all the way up to to adults was, we want, we want housing that we’re proud to come home to,” Gass said.
According to the Housing Authority, the Santa Rita project is one of three historic public housing redevelopments happening in east Austin. Chalmers Courts South construction is complete.
And the Rosewood Courts project is nearing completion. Gass said they plan to help Santa Rita residents relocate there within the next two to three months, ahead of Santa Rita being demolished and redeveloped.
Gass also told KXAN they have a relocation team helping all residents make the transition.