Affordable housing apartment complex for people living with HIV opens in north Austin

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A new affordable and supportive housing complex has opened in north Austin.

The Burnet Place Apartments, a 61-unit residence, will serve people living with HIV/AIDS, according to a release from the City of Austin’s Housing Department.

The complex is located at 8007 Burnet Road . The release said the complex was strategically located near high-frequency transit and is less than a mile away from one of the Imagine Austin activity centers. Imagine Austin is a 30-year plan that would create a “city of complete communities or centers where people could live, work, shop, recreate, etc. without traveling long distances,” the release said.

In the affordable units, 12 will be for those at or below 30% of the median family income (MFI), another 12 will be for those at or below 40% percent of the MFI and the remaining 37 will be for those at or below 50% MFI, according to the release.

Nine of the total number of units will be set aside for residents who are designated as chronically homeless.

This comes shortly after Austin Public Health announced the “ Ending the HIV Epidemic ” campaign. The campaign aims to highlight local resources, testing and treatment as the number of diagnoses for the virus has increased in Travis County for the fourth year in a row.

“We are excited about the new residences at Burnet Place. This is truly a unique community designed to address an important but often overlooked need here in the city,” said Mandy DeMayo, Interim Director for the Housing Department, in the release. “The housing and other supportive services offered at Burnet Place will provide stability to individuals living with AIDS/HIV and help address the city’s overall goals to reduce homelessness.”

According to the city, the developer, Project Transitions , will also serve as property manager and provider of wraparound supportive services.

Project Transitions works to serve people in Central Texas living with HIV. The organization collaborates with community partners to provide supplemental food, educational classes, transportation, harm reduction and recovery programs, as well as access to healthcare and mental health services.

Project Transitions leases its properties from a waitlist. Potential clients will need to call them directly to be screened for the waitlist. Their contact information can be found on their website .

Jeannie Swink, the Chief Programs Officer for Project Transitions, said having housing like this in Austin helps push the world closer to ending the HIV epidemic by 2030 — a goal that has been sought after by U.S. health officials and agencies since 2019 , according to HIV.gov .

“Connecting people living with HIV to medical care is an essential step in that process. It’s difficult to maintain treatment adherence without stable housing,” Swink said. “We could not achieve our benchmarks for treatment and viral suppression if hundreds of people living with HIV remain unhoused.”

Cost and funding

Total construction costs for the 32,451-square-foot residence were a little over $18 million, according to the release.

The housing department said funding for the project came from several sources.

According to the department, approximately $6.3 million came via the Austin Housing Finance Corp. (AHFC), through the Rental Housing Development Assistance (RHDA) program, using General Obligation (GO) Bonds ($3.6 million), Housing Trust Fund ($457,083) and HOME Funds from the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) ($2.2 million).

The nine units set aside for residents who are designated as chronically homeless will receive project-based assistance in the form of an annual subsidy of $800,000 in HOPWA (Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS) funding from Austin Public Health, per the release.

“HOPWA funds are funneled down from HUD (the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) to local, state and nonprofit organizations to provide assistance to persons living with HIV/AIDS for housing, medical treatments, job training, etc.,” the release said.

Another $9.3 million came from the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA). Additional funding came from the Moody Foundation, private grants, fundraising and contributions.

More information on affordable housing and community resources can be found online .

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