By Montgomery Planning staff

While attending the University of Texas at Austin in the early 2000s, James Hedrick witnessed what happens when a city’s population growth outpaces its housing supply.

Austin, already tight on housing, was booming with new tech companies–and the high-paid workers who followed. As rising rents left more residents unhoused and forced others out of lower-income neighborhoods, Hedrick joined  the local mayoral campaign of Max Nofziger, which was centered on the city’s affordable housing crisis.

“People have got to live somewhere,” Hedrick said. “If you don’t plan for and provide the amount of housing that you need, it’s the community that suffers.”

While his candidate lost, Hedrick would go on to devote his career to providing more … Continue reading