- Elizabeth Illing moved into the Casata micro-home community in Austin, Texas, with her daughter to save on rising rents
- After originally just paying $1,340, her prices for the small property have climbed almost thirty percent to $1,700
- Due to the climb in rents, Illing and her daughter now potentially face the prospect of being made homeless
An Austin woman who moved into a micro-home community in the city after finding it hard to make ends meet, potentially faces homelessness after her rent soared nearly 30 percent.
Elizabeth Illing had originally moved into the Casata micro-home community in South Austin, as a way to live a more affordable life.
After moving into the community in February of 2022 and had been paying $1,340 for rent which included utilities at a rate of $150.
Now, Illing faces having to shell out $1,700 after he rent was increased – meaning she and her daughter could potentially face homelessness.
Elizabeth Illing had originally moved into the Casata micro-home community in South Austin, as a way to live a more affordable life
Speaking to KVUE, Illing said: ‘It’s just really sad because I saw myself being here long term.’
She continued: ‘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 grew up in a small town. I wanted to be able to let my kid go outside and play.
‘I’ve gotten help from churches, I’ve gotten help from family members. I’ve actually had unforeseen extra expenses in my own personal life recently. It’s a struggle monthly.’
Casata CEO Aaron Levy said the community’s rates are directly comparable to rent for apartments in their area.
Levy told the outlet: ‘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 unfortunately is what it is. If you lived in a tiny home and were expecting to pay tiny rent, where are you located and what kind of amenities do you get with that?
‘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.’
Illing faces having to shell out $,1700 after he rent was increased – meaning she and her daughter could face being made homeless
Casata CEO Aaron Levy said the community’s rates are directly comparable to rent for apartments in their area
According to Fox, Austin was the most expensive city for cost of living in the state of Texas last year.
Some residents told the outlet that rents had been hiked by as much as 800 dollars in the city.
The Texas Tribune reported last September that Austin City Council is embarking on a push to ease city restrictions on how much housing can be built to tackle the problems.
The current restrictions impede the city’s ability to build homes to meet the crushing demand for housing, which causes higher home prices and rents.
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson told the outlet: ‘We have a significant affordability crisis, and it is an emergency.
‘We’ve got a supply and demand problem, and we’re going to have to come up with unique and different ways than we’ve thought of in the past to solve it.’