{"id":125932,"date":"2026-01-16T17:14:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T17:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/125932\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T17:14:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T17:14:10","slug":"teen-mom-star-slams-austin-housing-market-after-her-rent-doubled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/125932\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Teen Mom\u2019 Star Slams Austin Housing Market After Her Rent Doubled"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Teen Mom reality star Farrah Abraham, who is running for a city council seat in Austin<\/a>‘s District 5, has criticized the city’s housing market, <\/a>telling TMZ that her rent<\/a> has doubled or tripled for her downtown apartment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey [residents] don\u2019t have to feel like they\u2019re moving farther and farther out of Austin. Like all of my friends just keep moving out,\u201d Abraham said during the interview. \u201cMy rent for what I was renting downtown just doubled\u2026maybe tripled.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newsweek has reached out to Abraham for comment via email on Friday.<\/p>\n

Why It Matters<\/p>\n

Austin, Texas<\/a>, saw a surge in housing demand <\/a>over the last few years.<\/p>\n

Between February 2020 and May 2022, the city became what\u2019s known as a pandemic boomtown. The median sale price of a home in Austin surged by more than 60 percent, according to Redfin data, reaching a peak of $659,500.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While recently, prices have been course correcting as fewer people move to the city and many move out, downtown properties like the one that Abraham lives in could still be experiencing massive price jumps.<\/p>\n

What To Know<\/p>\n

Abraham, who starred on Teen Mom and 16 & Pregnant in 2009, had submitted paperwork to run in the Austin mayoral race. However, after learning that the election would not take place until 2028, Abraham refiled to enter the race for District 5\u2019s city council seat. <\/p>\n

The 34-year-old reality star said affordable housing<\/a> is one of the issues she would tackle if elected.<\/p>\n

\u201cI reached out to the city and I just was like, \u2018Hey, I\u2019m very serious about this\u2026I love this city and I want to get involved in and help where I live and breathe, and I know I can help because I\u2019m making it, others seem to be struggling, and I want to jump in the mix,’\u201d Abraham told local news station KXAN on Thursday. \u201cIf I could be a district seat and I could be mayor at the same time, I probably would do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abraham has lived in Austin since 2013 and grew up in Council Bluffs, Nebraska. She currently works as a life coach, standup comedian and OnlyFans model but said Austin\u2019s housing affordability is driving her to seek public office.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m literally going to be working with like brokers associations, realtors associations, and I\u2019m going to hopefully be going in and fixing this, because we have like, 2008 tax laws for closing on homes that just really isn\u2019t working for the Austin market, which is full of 1099s creatives and\u2026self-employed people,\u201d Abraham said.<\/p>\n

She cited her own experiences living downtown, where rent has doubled or tripled what she initially paid.<\/p>\n

Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor for the University of Tennessee, said it’s surprising to hear the claim that an individual’s rent in Austin doubled given rent prices over the last year in the market have trended downward overall.<\/p>\n

\u201cAustin became one of the hottest markets during the pandemic, with employers flocking to the city and the then-limited housing supply ensuring prices would skyrocket,\u201d Beene told Newsweek. With there now being ample supply and less demand, though, we’re starting to see those rental prices level off from their highs.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Abraham said she did not know who currently served District 5, she wants to improve living for those who reside in the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t even know who\u2019s in District 5, maybe their names just like aren\u2019t big names or something. They just don\u2019t come up where I work,\u201d Abraham said. \u201cPeople definitely are not enthused with people who are in charge of the city or districts or mayor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Council Member Ryan Alter, a Harvard Law School graduate, has represented the district since 2023.<\/p>\n

\"\"What People Are Saying<\/p>\n

Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor for the University of Tennessee, told Newsweek: \u201cIt’s possible select, in-demand parts of the city could continue to see rising rents, with added pressure coming from landlords that may own multiple properties and are using rent increases on some to supplement the losses on others.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Happens Next<\/p>\n

The filing deadline for city council is August 18, and Abraham said she\u2019s excited to focus on improving life for Austin residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just can\u2019t wait to see what\u2019s really going on\u2026We\u2019re going to have a really good life. We\u2019re going to have a better life in Austin,\u201d she told KXAN.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Teen Mom reality star Farrah Abraham, who is running for a city council seat in Austin‘s District…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125933,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,3222,6358,111,8218,27],"class_list":{"0":"post-125932","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austin","8":"tag-austin","9":"tag-austin-headlines","10":"tag-austin-news","11":"tag-housing","12":"tag-housing-market","13":"tag-real-estate","14":"tag-rent","15":"tag-texas"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}