5 candidates are running for Austin City Council District 9, which includes UT and West Campus. As the Nov. 3 general election approaches, three candidates spoke with The Texan about how they would approach West Campus issues.

The Texan sat down with incumbent Zohaib “Zo” Qadri, Katie Kam, and former UT professor Rich Heyman. Dave Thadani was not available for comment by the time of publication, and Kai Huang could not be reached for comment.

West Campus housing

Qadri said that while he has served as District 9 representative, the Austin City Council has passed items banning windowless bedrooms and changed rules limiting how many unrelated people could live under the same roof. 

Qadri also said the City Council is working on updating the University Neighborhood Overlay, which is a plan to promote high-density housing in West Campus and support affordability and walkability. 

Kam said she was a city planner in the early 2000s when UNO was first being developed. She said that renovating existing housing in West Campus, rather than continuing to build new buildings, would not only add “charm” but also increase affordability. 

“When you rezone property to allow large projects, you make it so that only deep-pocketed developers … have the ability to build to those zoning standards,” Kam said. “When you do that, … you lose that local relationship building that happens between local landowners and students.”

Heyman said the council should help increase affordable housing options for students, such as co-op housing, rather than expanding UNO or building more developments in West Campus. 

“This idea of expanding UNO into the northern part of the campus area is not going to necessarily do anything to create more affordable housing,” Heyman said. “It’s just going to expand the number of students who could live next to campus … which is a bonus, but it’s not necessarily going to make things cheaper.”

Public safety

Qadri said the city needs more trained professionals to deal with mental health emergencies.

“I’ve always been of the mind that we need to make sure our police officers are there to serve and protect, and not have police officers in situations that they’re not trained to be in,” Qadri said. “Individuals who are dealing with a mental health crisis — that’s not a place for an officer to be in.”

Heyman said that the Austin Police Department is overwhelmed with cases that could be outsourced to mental health and emergency services professionals. He also said he would prioritize working with APD to recruit new officers and ensure they are trained to de-escalate situations.

Kam said she has seen multiple incidents where criminals arrested in West Campus by APD were released from custody shortly after by Travis County. 

“I’m a big advocate for Travis County stepping up to make sure that we don’t have these offenders released so soon without some having been diverted to a program … whether that be consequences in jail time or mental health diversion,” Kam said. “When I’ve met with UT students, that does come up as an issue … that they do feel at times unsafe, and certainly I felt it when I’ve been in West Campus.”