Austin launches ‘Alley Flat Initiative’

Affordable-housing advocates in Austin, Texas, are promoting “alley flats” as an answer to the city’s escalating housing costs.
“From 2000 to 2007, the median home price in Austin has risen from $144,000 to $239,000 — an increase of 66 percent — while median household income has only risen 33 percent, from $46,000 to $61,000,” says a fact sheet from the Alley Flat Initiative.
The Initiative — a collaborative effort of the Austin Community Design and Development Center (ACDDC), the Guadalupe Neighborhood Development Corp., and the University of Texas Center for Sustainable Development — has assembled 20 designs produced by students at the University of Texas School of Architecture.
Austin homeowners are encouraged to choose one of the 20 as a starting point for building a detached accessory unit behind an existing house, especially in East Austin, a relatively low-income section that is undergoing increasing development. The first dwelling was completed in June, and construction of a second alley flat is to begin this fall, says Barbara Brown Wilson, planning and development director for ACDDC.
The 20 designs, prepared under the guidance of architecture professor Sergio Palleroni, are varied but mostly contemporary. All are 850 sq. ft. or smaller and are intended to be “built from sustainable materials” and to use energy-saving technologies, according to the Initiative.
Only two of the designs call for living quarters on top of a garage. That reflects the fact there simply aren’t many garages along Austin’s alleys. Many alleys have not been maintained over the years; they contain obstacles such as shrubs that impede vehicular access.
Despite decades of neglect, the idea of building houses along these little-used rights-of-way is seen as holding potential. It could provide a way for homeowners of modest means to obtain accessory units that will produce rental income, provide housing for relatives, and enlarge the city’s housing supply.
The first alley flat (left), a 680 sq. ft. unit, cost slightly over $100,000, far exceeding the price target, even though it was built partly with volunteer labor. Wilson attributes the high cost of that unit to features such as a “solar terrace” — a porch whose roof is covered with solar panels. “Ideally, the cost would be $60,000, not counting land,” Wilson says. A “mini-charrette” is being planned to continue design work. ACCDC is placing designs on the website www.thealleyflatinitiative.org.
The students did not produce construction documents. ACCDC will do that for low-income residents.
The Center for Sustainable Development has produced a report on alley flats, which includes a brief discussion of these units in four cities: Seattle; Vancouver, British Columbia; Boulder, Colorado; and Santa Cruz, California. The report is at soa.utexas.edu/csd/publications/working-papers.