The West Campus affordability ledger

Austin lists 190 affordable apartments and 23 bedrooms whose restrictions end in 2027–2030. The legal agreements still need checking.

By Sulayman Bowles · 13 minute read

Research cutoff: 2026-10-30. Prices, budgets and results keep their own dates.

In this investigation

Austin lists 190 affordable whole apartments and another 23 restricted bedrooms whose requirements end during 2027–2030. Those aren’t 213 beds, and the dates still need checking against the individual legal agreements.

The price rule can be surprising too. Under June 2026 rules, a newer restricted bedroom at 60% of median family income can allow more rent—and more combined roommate income—than an older whole apartment at 80%. I’d ask what the restriction covers before comparing the percentages.

The bargain lasts longer on one side than the other

UNO gives developers more valuable building capacity in return for affordable housing obligations and sometimes fees. An older fifteen-year restriction can expire while the building keeps its added height. Newer participation generally requires forty years; legacy elections and years of compliance mean an inventory date can’t replace the agreement and amendments.

Older requirements generally counted whole apartments; later rules allowed bedrooms. Two three-bedroom apartments aren’t the same public benefit as two bedrooms. Shared rooms add another difference between bedrooms and physical beds.

This ledger joins 83 UNO-tagged contracts and one separately tagged trust-fund beneficiary, Super Co-op. It keeps twenty expired entries, four released entries and two fee-only hotels as history. Forty-six entries are completed housing; twelve more are certified or under construction. None is a verified vacancy. Austin’s AHOST and Rate My Rent already provided building lists; this adds the rent rules, dates and contradictions needed to use them.

What the June 2026 rent limits mean

A post-2014 single-occupancy restricted bedroom at 60% MFI has a $1,260 monthly ceiling. A confirmed legacy bedroom opt-in at the same percentage can allow $1,562, $302 or about 24% more. For newer whole-apartment elections, the $941 ceiling at 50% MFI and $1,260 ceiling at 60% apply to the whole apartment. Newer shared-bedroom ceilings are $518 and $693 per person.

The schedules below preserve every room, household and cohort combination. A cap is a ceiling, not a current offer or a guarantee of savings. An unrestricted promotion can be cheaper. The property’s legal election determines which rule applies. City rent schedules and UNO guidance

June 2026 rent schedules

Policy cohort	MFI restriction (%)	Room or unit	Rent charged for	Monthly rent cap ($)	Effective date	Source URL
Legacy whole apartment	50	Efficiency or one bedroom	Whole apartment	1097	2026-06-01	Source
Legacy whole apartment	50	Two bedrooms	Whole apartment	1255	2026-06-01	Source
Legacy whole apartment	50	Three bedrooms	Whole apartment	1411	2026-06-01	Source
Legacy whole apartment	50	Four bedrooms	Whole apartment	1568	2026-06-01	Source
Legacy whole apartment	50	Five bedrooms	Whole apartment	1694	2026-06-01	Source
Legacy whole apartment	65	Efficiency or one bedroom	Whole apartment	1426	2026-06-01	Source
Legacy whole apartment	65	Two bedrooms	Whole apartment	1631	2026-06-01	Source
Legacy whole apartment	65	Three bedrooms	Whole apartment	1834	2026-06-01	Source
Legacy whole apartment	65	Four bedrooms	Whole apartment	2038	2026-06-01	Source
Legacy whole apartment	65	Five bedrooms	Whole apartment	2201	2026-06-01	Source
Legacy whole apartment	80	Efficiency or one bedroom	Whole apartment	1745	2026-06-01	Source
Legacy whole apartment	80	Two bedrooms	Whole apartment	1993	2026-06-01	Source
Legacy whole apartment	80	Three bedrooms	Whole apartment	2243	2026-06-01	Source
Legacy whole apartment	80	Four bedrooms	Whole apartment	2492	2026-06-01	Source
Legacy whole apartment	80	Five bedrooms	Whole apartment	2691	2026-06-01	Source
Legacy bedroom opt-in	50	One occupant	Per person in restricted bedroom	941	2026-06-01	Source
Legacy bedroom opt-in	50	Two occupants	Per person in restricted bedroom	518	2026-06-01	Source
Legacy bedroom opt-in	60	One occupant	Per person in restricted bedroom	1562	2026-06-01	Source
Legacy bedroom opt-in	60	Two occupants	Per person in restricted bedroom	859	2026-06-01	Source
Newer bedroom	50	One occupant	Per person in restricted bedroom	941	2026-06-01	Source
Newer bedroom	50	Two occupants	Per person in restricted bedroom	518	2026-06-01	Source
Newer bedroom	60	One occupant	Per person in restricted bedroom	1260	2026-06-01	Source
Newer bedroom	60	Two occupants	Per person in restricted bedroom	693	2026-06-01	Source
Newer whole apartment	50	Whole apartment, any bedroom count	Whole apartment	941	2026-06-01	Source
Newer whole apartment	60	Whole apartment, any bedroom count	Whole apartment	1260	2026-06-01	Source

A lower income percentage can permit a more expensive apartment

Consider three residents in a three-bedroom apartment, one per bedroom. An older 80%-MFI whole-apartment restriction allows $96,150 combined household income and $2,243 total monthly rent, about $748 each if divided equally. Three newer 60%-MFI restricted bedrooms allow $56,460 income each—$169,380 combined—and $1,260 rent each, or $3,780 total.

Three roommates earning $50,000 each would fail the older combined-income test but individually pass the newer bedroom threshold. This is a worked comparison assuming all three newer bedrooms are restricted. It doesn’t describe a named building or guarantee approval. Initial income verification, financial-aid eligibility and renewal rules also differ. Compliance guide

June 2026 limits on different housing types

Rule	Pre-2014 whole apartment at 80% MFI	Post-2014 bedrooms, each at 60% MFI
Households assessed	One three-person household	Three one-person bedroom households
Annual gross-income ceiling	$96,150 combined	$56,460 each; $169,380 combined across the three households
Monthly rent ceiling	$2,243 for the whole apartment	$1,260 per bedroom; $3,780 combined
Rent per person, if the apartment cost is divided equally	$2,243 ÷ 3 ≈ $748	$1,260

How to qualify and apply

The city allows an approved need-based student-aid award or qualifying household income. Filing FAFSA alone isn’t an approved award. Ask the manager to match your award to the city’s list; UT’s current portal is My Financial Aid.

Under ordinary income verification, the household is the ongoing residents of the legally restricted apartment or bedroom. Regular outside cash support counts and can’t exceed 30% of gross household income; tuition-related payments must be disclosed but are excluded. Don’t assume all parents’ income automatically counts or that support from parents is irrelevant.

Contact the building directly for its UNO or SMART application, income tier and waitlist. Ask whether the restriction is for the apartment or bedroom and request its agreement or certification if unclear. The guide generally asks for two recent consecutive months of paystubs, with alternatives for new work and self-employment. Before signing, get the rent, every fee, occupancy basis, lease length and renewal terms in writing. Austin doesn’t operate one central application.

An initially eligible resident can renew under continuing-eligibility rules up to 120% MFI. Above the original threshold, renewal rent can reach 28% of gross monthly household income, capped at comparable market rent. A resident above the original entry limit therefore isn’t automatically in violation.

For a program question, the city lists HousingIncentives@austintexas.gov and 512-974-3100. Keep the advertisement, correspondence and proposed lease. UNO guide · My Financial Aid

June 2026 income limits

Household size	Effective date	50% MFI ($/year)	60% MFI ($/year)	65% MFI ($/year)	80% MFI ($/year)	120% MFI ($/year)
1	2026-06-01	47050	56460	61150	74800	112900
2	2026-06-01	53800	64560	69900	85450	129000
3	2026-06-01	60500	72600	78600	96150	145150
4	2026-06-01	67200	80640	87350	106800	161300
5	2026-06-01	72600	87120	94350	115350	174200

Which restrictions are due to end?

Twelve completed older whole-apartment properties account for 190 apartments: 45 at 50% MFI and 145 at 80%. Two legacy opt-in properties add 23 bedrooms at 60% MFI. The apartments end 34 in 2027, 35 in 2028, sixty in 2029 and 61 in 2030. The bedrooms are two at Ellora in 2027 and 21 at Texan 26th in 2030.

Axis supplies the 2027 apartments. GrandMarc, Regents at 26th and 24 Longview follow in 2028; 21 Pearl, San Pedro Flats, Callaway and Regents at 24th in 2029; Twenty Two 15, Villas on 26th, Tradition on Rio and Crest at Pearl in 2030.

These are city-listed end dates, not predicted evictions or demolitions. Extensions and other agreements may change them. AHOST conflicts with the inventory on eight completed properties’ end dates and eleven across the full history; GrandMarc differs by a year and the Corner by about 25 years. Those conflicts need the legal documents, not a guessed resolution.

City-listed expirations by housing type

Year	Whole apartments	Opt-in bedrooms	Properties
2027	34	2	["Axis West Campus"]
2028	35	0	["24 Longview", "Grand Marc at 26th", "Regents West at 26th"]
2029	60	0	["21 Pearl", "Regents West at 24th", "San Pedro Flats", "The Callaway House Austin"]
2030	61	21	["Crest at Pearl", "Tradition on Rio (formerly Pointe on Rio)", "Twenty Two 15 (fka Quarters at Bandera House)", "Villas on 26th"]

The public lists miss buildings and mix counts

AHOST matched 29 of the 46 completed positive-count housing entries, leaving seventeen unmatched in this comparison. That’s 37.0% of property entries, not 37% of beds. They include Rambler, Sinclair, Rise, Icon, Callaway, Nine at Rio, Yugo Rio and Nueces, several Villas, AVIA, 24 Longview, Ellora, Avon, Texas Alpha House and Noble 2500. Some have operator SMART pages. Texas Alpha is a fraternity contact, not a verified public application route.

The Corner has 42 restricted entries in AHOST against fourteen in the inventory; Legacy on Rio has 114 against 110. Expired availability flags in AHOST’s backend don’t prove its public map lists expired housing: the frontend filters past end dates.

Older city material reported 572 affordable units and 911 beds; later material reported 401 units and 972 bedrooms. The unit change has a strong arithmetic explanation: 256 active older units plus 171 expired older units plus 145 newer units equals 572; removing the expired 171 gives 401. A separate 173-unit expiration forecast and a later 940-bedroom table still conflict with the headlines. Don’t describe the 911-to-972 change as 61 newly delivered bedrooms. The study’s 480/1,003 growth comparison also crosses the unit/bedroom definition change and can’t demonstrate doubled student capacity.

A fee calculator raised a question, then another page weakened it

Amounts in this paragraph are rounded to whole dollars independently; the download keeps the original cents. The Mark showed a $1,260 SMART base installment and $1,307 total for August 2027–July 2028. Its calculator marked $9 credit reporting, $14 damage waiver, $15 Fetch and $10 valet trash as non-optional, adding about $47 in total.

The city guide includes mandatory services in the rent ceiling, with named utility exceptions. But the operator’s move-in page calls the credit program optional and permits outside liability insurance. Those conflicting pages prevent calling the roughly $47 difference a proven overcharge. The SMART-specific lease, relevant year’s cap and treatment of the package fee still need checking. Ask which charges you can decline and which the cap includes.

Compliance figures don’t tell us who lived there

Twenty of the 46 completed entries have a latest result labeled Compliant; 26 have no result in that field and seven lack a usable monitoring year. Blank isn’t failure, and a compliant result isn’t a current tenant count. The public fields don’t show eligible occupancy, applicant conversion, rejection reasons or waitlist length.

Austin’s small four-property website audit found three advertising SMART housing, none listing both reserved counts and openings, and no fall-2024 spaces at the time checked in November 2023. That shows a particular access problem, not a market-wide vacancy rate. Neither universal success nor widespread wealthy-student occupancy follows from these figures.

Fees also preserved cooperative housing

The city reported $5,553,737 in trust-fund collections and $2,852,829 unspent on September 1, 2023. That isn’t today’s balance. It identified fifty restricted entries at Super Co-op, eighty preserved at 21st Street and eight at Ruth Schulze, each requiring its own resident/bed definition.

Super Co-op’s $837,500 award wasn’t tagged UNO in the inventory. Other funding fields showed zero despite documented awards. That’s why neither the UNO tag nor a funding-field filter produces a complete beneficiary list.

What would make the bargain worth its cost?

Compare the extra development’s value with the housing savings it delivers. Added height brings added construction, financing and operating costs, so gross rent isn’t the value of the zoning permission. Count eligible occupied bed-months and the all-in discount against comparable housing; show students as a subtotal because income eligibility isn’t universally a UT-enrollment requirement.

At an assumed $300 real monthly saving, full qualifying occupancy and 5% real discount rate, fifteen years gives about $37,367 present value; forty years gives $61,773. That’s 65% more savings, not the 167% increase in years. At 80% occupancy both fall 20%. These are illustrative inputs, not measured UNO results.

Davis offers specific alternatives: perpetual on-site restrictions, annual reporting and inspection of 10% of the affordable units, with qualifying third-party inspections allowed. Nishi’s project-specific rule examines parental income for dependent students. That doesn’t establish better overall outcomes or a rule for every Davis project. Austin’s suspended C20-2024-010 proposals likewise aren’t the adopted rules used here.

How we got this

The October 30, 2026 snapshot joins city contracts, AHOST, operator application routes and June 2026 rules. Individual executed covenants weren’t obtained. The full source manuscript and downloadable property ledger keep every count, date conflict, application link and qualification. City inventory data are adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0; credit belongs to the City of Austin, with analysis and joins by Sulayman Bowles.

The program created affordable-housing obligations, application routes and cooperative support. Its public totals still don’t measure eligible students housed, their savings or the public share of the extra development value. Legal agreements, anonymous occupancy/compliance totals and trust-fund accounts would make that calculation possible.

Policy rules and original sources

Rule	What applies	Source URL	Source pages
cohorts	Legal schedule follows the property election and legal agreement, not its marketing label or opening date.	Source	2–3, 9–10
eligibility	Approved need-based student award route, or verified gross annual household income.	Source	4–7
fees	Mandatory fees are included in the rent ceiling, except named utility/service categories.	Source	3
monitoring	Desk/on-site reviews; required documents; notice, findings and cure procedures.	Source	10–11
renewals	Initially eligible occupancy may continue counting until income exceeds 120% MFI; renewal-rent rule.	Source	12
terms	Compliant years and covenant control duration; inventory dates are not deed verification.	Source	2, 12