Jessica Foster's Story
"I'm in disbelief that public school teachers qualify for Habitat for Humanity."
Jessica Foster is an elementary school teacher for AISD. Since moving to Austin, she has not been able to afford to live close to the community she educates.
She's lived in cramped, sub-standard apartments that have left her housing-cost burdened because of how much of her income she spends on rent. There have been times where her car breaks down and she can't afford to fix it for months and she's continually struggling to make her student loan payments.
All of this is about to change for Jessica.
Through Austin Habitat for Humanity, Jessica will begin building her very own affordable home this November down the street from the school she teaches in. She'll get to live in the same community as her students, forge deeper bonds with their families, and finally make headway on her student debt.
Teachers in Austin would need to make almost double their average salary to afford a market-rate home in Austin. We need to invest in affordable housing programs now before we push our educators out and only upper-income people can afford to live here.
The land Jessica's home is being built on was purchased by Austin Habitat with the help of City funding -- the type of funding Proposition A, the Affordable Housing Bond, will provide.
Through the Affordable Housing Bond, we can keep our teachers in Austin. We can make an Austin everyone can afford.
