Austin Business Journal writes, "An Austin nonprofit aims to raise $10 million to develop affordable housing projects for the city’s musicians and others in its creative class.
The Chestnut Neighborhood Revitalization Corporation is launching the capital campaign for a new initiative called Pathways to Ownership, with the goal of funding three affordable housing projects throughout Austin.
The organization plans to use $7 million for land acquisition costs and the other $3 million for construction and growth efforts. If successful, the campaign will add 300 affordable units to the city — 100 per location, although details aren't finalized, said Sean Garretson, CNRC president and planning and development manager of Pegasus Planning and Development.
Garretson said the CNRC, which has previously developed affordable single-family and multifamily projects in Austin, wanted to focus on housing for Austin’s creative class — including musicians, industry service workers and others — after hearing about the challenges it faces from Charles Ferraro, who is on the CNRC board and has been involved in Austin’s music scene for over 25 years. Ferraro is co-owner of the East Austin music venue Hotel Vegas as well as other venues.
Ferraro said he’s seen the cost of living rise dramatically in Austin since the 2000s, reaching a breaking point during the Covid-19 pandemic as interest in the city skyrocketed.
“Austin's had a lot of prosperity and growth, which has been great on a lot of levels, but the downside of that prosperity is the escalation and the cost of living,” Ferraro said. “That greatly impacts all of the folks that I work with on a regular basis, from the musicians to the service industry folks at venues and the other people that are behind making venues and the Austin music scene work.”
Many Hotel Vegas employees can’t live in the city due to the high costs, Ferraro said, adding that he’s seen musicians and people in the service and creative industries in Austin get priced out and have to either move to the suburbs or out of state.
Maintaining Austin’s reputation as a fun city and the Live Music Capital of the World is viewed as important by business leaders and tourism officials alike, who consider Austin's vibrant culture a key asset for it.
“If we don't have affordable housing, we're going to continue to lose many of these great musicians to different towns and cities and even out of state, and our culture — Austin culture we've built over decades — continues to suffer,” Ferraro said.
Locations of the affordable housing projects haven’t been determined. Garretson said the CNRC will be opportunistic in placing them around town but ideally would like to locate them near places in Austin that already have several music venues, including in East Austin and South Austin.
“The idea of locating your housing near your place of employment is just a great idea,” Garretson said. “Just have a bicycle and just forgo the $12,000 to $15,000 a year on automobile costs.”
CNRC also plans to add retail and community space to one of the projects so it can serve as a place for entrepreneurs to house businesses.
Garretson said the $10 million is likely to be raised from a mix of partner organizations, as well as large and small donations — potentially by placing QR codes in music venues across town for people to donate.
“We're just getting started on this in terms of letting the community know, ‘Hey, it's time to step up for the musicians that you've been appreciating weekend after weekend after weekend for however long you've been in Austin,’” Garretson said.
The affordable units also could be constructed in a “co-housing model,” where the residential spaces are private but clustered around shared communal spaces like kitchens or open spaces, he said.
The Pathways to Ownership campaign could begin fundraising events this fall, Garretson said, at which point more serious discussions will take place regarding the size and location of these projects.
Ferraro described $10 million as a big goal but said it's achievable because of CNRC's reputation and because many people and organizations in Austin recognize the need for more affordable housing.
“It's also about making sure that we are maintaining our culture into the future with new bands, new kids, new musicians coming here and being able to afford and have that freedom to work on their craft and for new projects,” Ferraro said."
Source: Austin Business Journal
Written by: Sean Hemmersmeier
Published: June 27, 2025
Posted by Grossman & Jones Group on
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