In Austin, school staff often trade short commutes for affordable housing, so district officials hope the project will help retain educators and ease the burden of commuting for some employees.
The 675-unit housing project will launch with 334 units in fall of 2027 on the site of the Anita Ferrales Coy site in East Austin, where the former Allan Elementary School once sat. Austin ISD owns the property, but leases it on a 99-year term to the NRP Group, which is developing the housing.
About two-thirds of Austin ISD staff are cost-burdened, Superintendent Matias Segura said in a statement.
“Austin ISD educators and staff are facing historic affordability pressures, with rising housing costs forcing many to live far from the students and campuses they serve,” Segura said.
Half the units on the 18-acre site will be income-restricted and and the other half will be leased at market rates. Of all the units, 10% are for families earning up to 60% of the area’s median income and 40% are for families earning up to 80% of area income, according to the NRP Group. As of 2024, Austin’s area median income was just under $94,000, according to census data.
The leasing eligibility system was structured so that district employees would be able to qualify, said Paul Saldaña, who represents the NRP Group. Austin ISD staff will also be prioritized in the application process, he said.
The project is meant to solve some of the district and city’s problems, said Nick Walsh, the vice president of development for the NRP Group. It is difficult to retain teachers who have to drive through other districts to get to their AISD jobs, he said.
Austin ISD “really viewed housing affordability as this existential crisis for the district and there’s only so much they can do with the pay for the district,” Walsh said.
The units will come with one, two and three bedrooms and have green space and on-site childcare.
Allan Elementary closed in 2012 after the school board handed the campus over to the charter network IDEA Public Schools, a controversial move that was later reversed.
The project was definitely a new and creative use for AISD, said Jaime Miller, senior executive director of operations for the district.
Miller said it’s not yet clear exactly how much money Austin ISD will collect from the NRP Group for the ground lease, but the revenue won’t be subject to recapture.
Recapture is the state school finance system that pulls money back from school districts with high property values — like Austin — and redistributes the funds to other Texas school districts that can’t raise enough revenue locally to educate their students. The state funding formula typically takes half of Austin ISD’s property tax revenue.