Jobs, schools bring families to affordable housing site

By LESLEE BASSMAN, Four Points News

After opening in December, Cardinal Point apartment complex at 11015 Four Points Dr. is at capacity and as of recently, its waitlist is closed, said Donna Williams, director of individual giving and engagement at Foundation Communities, a nonprofit entity that owns the 120-unit complex.

Foundation Communities provides affordable homes with on-site support services including exercise programs, financial management sessions, adult education classes and free after-school and summer academic programming. Comprised of 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom units, the $25 million project features a playground, playing field, on-site laundry room, on-site food pantry and computer lab.

Cardinal Point took nearly four-and-a-half years to complete and is the most far northwest in the Austin-area that the company has constructed a complex, said Julian Huerta, deputy executive director of Foundation Communities.

“We don’t have many openings,” he said. “Typically, what happens is our properties do get full. We usually have a waiting list because affordable housing is such a big issue in Austin, especially in areas like this where there are lots of jobs but very little affordable housing.”

Huerta said most of the Cardinal Point residents are families with children and single-parent families. Twelve units are reserved for families who were either homeless or on the verge of homelessness, and these families receive extra support including a case manager who meets with the family weekly to set goals on becoming more independent by increasing their income and figuring out transportation issues, he said.

“We have about an 85 percent success rate taking a family who was homeless and getting them to where, after about two years, they’re in a sustainable housing situation,” Huerta said, adding that once these residents reach self-sustainability, they can either continue at the complex, paying on the rent scale applicable to all residents, or find another complex.

Rent costs at Cardinal Point vary depending on family income and range from $400-$1,175 monthly, with the higher fee attributable to a three-bedroom unit rented to a tenant earning the highest income level served by the community, he said.

A number of factors came together to designate the Cardinal Point tract as the correct site for the project, Huerta said.

“We know a lot of people were commuting to come in [to work in Four Points],” he said. “Lots of business owners told us they were having trouble filling positions because there just weren’t people around. Those factors made it [attractive] along with the fact that there are good schools here. We felt like it was a good place where families would have lots of opportunities. We were able to find “land at a price we could afford to win the funding to build the housing.”

Cardinal Point is the first Foundation Communities project in Leander ISD, Huerta said, with its children attending River Place Elementary School, Four Points Middle School and Vandegrift High School.

The majority of Cardinal Point residents work and pay rent, he said. Their income is checked to make sure they don’t exceed the maximum income allowable for a family of four, $50,000 annually, and most of the families in the complex earn $25,000-$35,000 annually, Huerta said. The rental history and criminal background of a prospective tenant is also verified for the security and quality of life for the other tenants, he said.

“We actually don’t allow anybody [as a renter] who has had a felony within the last 10 years,” Huerta said. “[Prospective tenants with] serious felonies, violent felonies are excluded no matter how old they are. So that is an area where we’re not very different from other landlords. We are strict around that. We always want our housing to not be a housing of last resort but rather something that people choose and really want to live in.”

According to Joe Van Wyk, Foundation Communities communications coordinator, as of July 11, 37 of the complex’s residents worked within 10 miles of their home, with some working from a home office. He said 46 residents work more than 10 miles from home and 32 residents are on fixed incomes unable to work.

“We usually expect more turnover in a new property after the first year or two, and expect the trend towards working closer to improve,” Van Wyk said.

The project brought concern from local residents that its new tenants may put an added traffic burden on RM 620 or would not have cars in an area that lacks public transportation. Former District 6 City Council Member Don Zimmerman voiced his opposition to the complex as being “unaffordable” and “unsustainable.”

“[Transportation] is a challenge for some folks—we knew that coming in,” Huerta said. “We did outreach around the property and families. We let them know this was a place where you do need to own a car. That’s just the reality of it.”

When Foundation Communities begins to evaluate a site, Huerta said staff holds community meetings with nearby residents and neighborhood associations to “make sure that the neighbors know what our plans are” and “give them an opportunity to see our work.” Cardinal Point is one of 23 communities in Austin and North Texas owned and managed by Foundation Communities, he said.

“We have a long track record where people can actually go see what our properties look like and see a property that has been there for 20 years and see what that property looks like even after that long,” Huerta said.

The company held a number of meetings in the Four Points area as well as a grand opening celebration May 1 and an open house June 27, he said.

“There are lots of opportunities for people to come and see what it’s like, either just to see and make sure we did what we said we were going to do or to become involved,” Huerta said.

The facility enlists volunteers to work in its on-site learning center as well as preparing meals for and socializing with residents, he said.

Volunteers at Cardinal Point’s learning center began working this past summer, said Jackie Cuellar, director of volunteer programs.

Four Points residents and others wishing to volunteer can also host an open house, prepare welcome baskets, assist in tax preparation, participate in financial coaching, and aid residents enrolling in healthcare, Cuellar said. The volunteer page on the facility’s website, foundcom.org/get-involved/volunteer/, offers a list of opportunities.

“We want the folks who are moving into Cardinal Point to be part of the [Four Points] community, to get to know folks in the larger area, to be part of making this a better place for everybody,” Huerta said. “So we absolutely encourage and create opportunities for folks to come here, meet our residents, see what we’re doing and become involved in the work.”