ISSUES

HOUSING

Chito has been a leader on housing, passing major housing reforms that increased the supply of housing throughout the city. These reforms include allowing home owners to build additional units on their property, helping families stay together and allowing parents to age in place.

Chito is a strong supporter of affordable housing and tenant protections, passing zoning rules requiring large, new housing developments include affordable housing, passing protections for tenants and budgeting millions of dollars for tenant assistance to help prevent evictions.

Chito also supported eliminating Austin’s parking requirements, giving businesses and apartments needed flexibility on how much parking to build. Eliminating parking requirements allows more room for new businesses and housing. Many cities recently eliminated parking requirements, but Austin is the largest city in the country to do so.

Austin must become a more multi-modal city where you can bike, walk or take public transit to where you want to go. Chito serves on the board of CapMetro, Austin’s public transit agency, and is a strong supporter of Project Connect, Austin’s effort to build a light rail system and enhanced bus routes.

The opening of the McKalla rail station at Austin FC’s Q2 Stadium was a highlight of his first term in office. Chito also serves on the City of Austin Mobility Committee.

Chito is a strong supporter of sidewalks and bike lanes, which are a necessary part of a good public transit system. District 4 - more than almost any other council district - has seen a number of new sidewalks and bike lanes along Airport Blvd, Cameron Road, Georgian Dr, North Loop, 51st Street and many other locations.

Our community’s safety and security is the priority. But public safety is more than just crime. It involves preventing vehicle crashes and injuries, reducing overdose deaths and properly responding to mental health emergencies. Austin’s 911 system now asks if a caller needs a “police, fire, EMS or mental health” response. The 911 system has trained operators responding to requests for mental health assistance and we can now send out field teams who are trained to deal with mental health emergencies. This response provides superior services to people experiencing a mental health crisis and allows police officer’s to focus on responding to and investigating crime. City council recently added funding to the mental health response program so it can function 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Transparency and accountability in our police department is also extremely important. Chito sponsored an item at council leading to the creation of the Austin Police Department’s data portal, which provides both the community and policy makers reliable data on which to base policy. Before Chito’s item, the crime data released to the public was minimal. By better understanding crime patterns, calls for service, and other police data, we can better calibrate our deployment of resources and more effectively combat crime and enhance public safety. The Austin Police Department data portal is here.

Austin is also opening up police officers’ “g file”, which contained complaints and disciplinary records and kept them confidential. Austin voters overwhelmingly approved a measure to open up these documents to the public and the city is now doing that. Chito completely supports these efforts.