'Don't know why I'm struggling' | Austin mom says she can no longer afford to live in her tiny home

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High cost of housing in Austin is making it harder for many people to make ends meet. And that's certainly the case for a single mother we talked to who says she can't afford to live in her South Austin Micro home anymore. Katy's Isabella Basco spoke with that mother about the steep financial challenges she's facing Isabella. Well, Ashley Cua when Elizabeth Illing signed a lease at Casada Micro Homes, she thought she was signing up for affordable living but admits it's a monthly struggle paying her rent and bills. But the CEO of Casada also gave some context. When Elizabeth Illing saw the Quesada community in South Austin, she saw living at the micro homes as a way of knowing your neighborhood and keeping Austin affordable. I grew up in a small town. I wanted to be able to let my kid go outside and play. She showed us what she paid in rent her first year in 2022 1340 it included um internet. My utilities were 100 and 50 set. Now she's paying $350 more and rent a month. Now paying 1690 in rent alone. The cost of her utilities is also making it hard for her to make ends meet. It's just really sad because I saw myself being here long term. I didn't want to uproot my daughter. I wanted us to be here and now I can't afford to live here anymore. I've gotten help from churches, I've gotten help from family members. Um I've, I've actually had unforeseen extra expenses in my own personal life recently. And so it's, it's a struggle monthly but Erin Levy, the CEO of Casada says their rates are directly comparable to rent for apartments in their area. We know that in the first year of our operation, we were actually running at a loss because we were giving away a lot to the resident. But cost of living is uh you know, unfortunately what it is if you lived in a tiny home and, and were expecting to pay tiny rent, where are you located? And what kind of amenities do you get with that? An affordability crisis felt and weighing heavily on both. It's very challenging to keep true affordability and attainability and get all the benefits of all the things that you see around you that you want. I don't know why I'm struggling just to pay my rent when I'm doing everything that you know, society says do and you'll, you know, this is what is expected. And the real estate website, Rent Cafe has a map that shows a monthly rent of $1500 can get you a 714 square foot apartment in Austin that's smaller compared to a city like San Antonio where you can pay that much money for an apartment that's over 1000 square feet. You can check out that information on kb.com Queen and Ashley.
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Channel: KVUE
Views: 37,250
Rating: undefined out of 5
Keywords: austin, austin housing, austin housing market, austin real estate, austin tiny homes, casata austin, kvue, micro-homes, tiny homes, Austin mom says she can no longer afford to live in her tiny home
Id: Vm4Bt0bTyPk
Channel Id: undefined
Length: 2min 46sec (166 seconds)
Published: Wed Jan 17 2024
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