- [Announcer] The Gene and Dave Show. - [Dave] The following program may contain strong language and brief nudity but don't get your hopes up. After all, this is public access TV. This episode of The Gene and Dave Show is sponsored by Art Spark Texas, sparking the creative in everyone and Amerigroup. - [Woman] Amerigroup, choose us for helping your loved ones live at home. Call 1-800-964-2777. - I'm Gene. - And I'm Dave. - And we're the - [Both] Gene and Dave Show. - Hey, Gene. - Hey, Dave. - You've heard me complain, in the past, I have such a hard time finding accessible housing in Austin. - Yeah, I remember, it was just like a year or two ago, right? That you got kicked out of your apartment and you had no choice. They were remodeling it, or something, and they were gonna do away with that apartment that you were in and you had, like a month, to find someplace else and I remember, man, this is just this is hard. This is tough for poor Gene. I was lookin' around for you and you were lookin' around, trying to find something that was accessible but, yet, that you could still afford. And, man, there's just not much in Austin and I remember thinkin', boy, wouldn't it be great if there was some type of organization that could help with that or someplace that had accessible housing? - Well you know, Dave, there is now. Yeah, I was at this other apartment complex and they were renovating it and they thought, well, they would do it section by section and then move me into another section that was wheelchair accessible. Well, it came down to the end, they didn't have any place to put me So I got pushed out and I just had a devil of a time finding a place. But now, the Accessible Housing Austin, otherwise known as AHA, - Ah-ha! - has built a 27-unit apartment complex that is fully accessible, over at 1915 Briarcliff, and we had a chance to look at it the other day. They had a ribbon-cutting ceremony on March 6th so we were over there. We met Jolene Keene, the executive director of AHA. - And our friend, Stephanie with ADAPT, right? - Yeah. Yes Stephanie's with ADAPT. She's also the president of the board at AHA and you know what a bottomless energy she has. - That's for sure. If somethin' needs to get done, boy, she's the one to do it. - She's the one to do it. So yeah, it was a pretty nice place, over there. Jolene, or as we call her, Joe, took us on a tour of the units and you'll see, in the upcoming video, here. The elevator buttons were all easy to reach, all down low. But the elevator doors closed a bit too quick for me. - Well that's probably something they can adjust. - Yeah, yeah. - They're still in adjusting phases, it's new, right? - Exactly. - Yeah. - They'll work the kinks out. Each unit has a utility room where you can put a washer-dryer so either buy one or rent them. And, I'll tell you what, I used to live in an apartment complex that didn't have washer-dryers in the apartment. You had to go down to the end of the hall to use them. Never again, buddy. - Never again. So I was happy to see that. And they have roll-in showers in these units, which is really nice. To find that in Austin, I mean, it would be a real headache to do that. But all these units have the roll-in shower. - Man, I can't wait to see 'em. Let's see it, Gene. - Well, here you go. - All right. - Yeah and they've got what they call a water dam on the floor, there, to keep the water from flowing out. You can roll right in and this dam will keep the water, inside the shower. You know, Dave, these regulations, at least over here at Aldritch 51, they're one-bedroom units. Their accessible shower is 30 by 36 inches and there's no way I would fit in that. But over here, at 1915 Briarcliff, plenty of more room to maneuver in there. So that was great to see. - That's important when you're trying to get all the pieces and parts. - Yeah. - Yeah. The kitchen, we have a picture, here, of while it was still under construction. It didn't have all the appliances in yet but they did have the lower countertops. But again, we talk about regulations, they're not ideal for anybody but what they do is they take stakeholders, they get them all together, and they express what they think is ideal. And then they have to compromise. So, the countertops are lower but some, I just couldn't get underneath. I think someone in a manual chair would have an easier time getting underneath. But they're all modern appliances. The refrigerator, I couldn't get open. I don't know how they do that. There was no handle on the side, there. I don't know. That might take some adjustments, too. - Well, like always in life, Gene, we find things or ways around the difficulties of life and, you know, you just have to experiment and kind of make some adaptations that are right for you. - You're absolutely right, Dave. And being able to adapt is the key, there, so. Also they've got mailboxes that are down low so people in wheelchairs can reach those. They have a courtyard, there, so, a pretty nice, quiet area and I think people moving there are gonna be pretty happy with what's going on and it's affordable. I don't know what that means, though. - I think there's some kind of formula, somewhere, where they talk about affordable. It is affordable. They had a ribbon-cutting ceremony and I believe that was, we got a clip of that, where Dave Chapelle was gonna, he was in his chair, he was just gonna just ram through the ribbon but the ribbon wouldn't break. - Didn't quite work out the way we had thought, huh? - No, not quite. But they cut it for him and off he went. It was great. So, if people are lookin' for accessible housing, I'd have 'em contact AHA and see if they can make an appointment with Jolene or they could send an email to housing@ahaustin.org. And, of course, we've got that information, also, in our summary page with more information about AHA. - And that would be - on our website at thegeneanddaveshow.com. - You got that right, Dave. - So it was a pleasure seeing this building finally come up. - That's awesome. So are you movin', Gene? - No. I'll tell you what, Dave I'm over here at the Mueller development area. - Yeah, that's a really nice area. - I'm like a block and a half from HEB so I can go to the pharmacy, there, really easy. Farmer' market's just down the street. But that's also not that far from 1915 Briarcliff so, that's almost as convenient. - Hey, well, at least you know, now, that you have more options than you had a couple years ago when you were looking for someplace to live. - Oh, yeah. - Which is a good thing. - Oh you're absolutely right. So we're thankful for that and if folks don't necessarily want to live in this area, they can call Joe and I believe they have other properties in the city. They might be able to hook them up. So we're happy about progress, here in Austin. - That's right. Progress is good, Gene. We gotta have it. And it sounds like we do, now, with AHA. - We're here, today, at 1915 Briarcliff with Jolene from AHA. Jolene, tell us, tell us about the history of this project, here. - Absolutely. So Accessible Housing Austin was founded in 2005 by a group of disability rights advocates who were volunteering for ADAPT of Texas and they had realized that it's very difficult to find affordable, accessible housing. So, when two of the ADAPT members passed away, they willed their homes to ADAPT of Texas, who then created Accessible Housing Austin as a business to own and operate those units. Throughout the past 10 years or so, we have gotten another seven units of affordable housing for a total of nine, throughout Austin. And, about 10 years ago, the Housing Authority of the City of Austin came to ADAPT and said that they had some land available, on which to build an apartment complex. And so it has been a labor of love, over the past 10 years but, to date, we have 27 beautiful, new units of affordable, accessible, and integrated housing. - Oh, well that's fantastic. How many people have you got in, right now? - Right now, all 27 units are spoken for but not quite leased up yet. Right now we have about 19 units that are leased-up, with another eight to go. We just opened up, January 22nd so folks had to give 30 and 60-day notices to their current landlords to move out and come into our units. - To get more information on this program, how will they contact you? - Sure. They can look us up on the Internet at A-H-A-U-S-T-I-N, as in A-H Austin . O-R-G or they can email housing at A, as in accessible, H, as in housing, Austin . O-R-G. - Excellent. Well we look forward to talking to you more. - It's a pretty auspicious time to be opening our largest project, to date, as we are celebrating our 15th anniversary this year. - [Crowd Member] Woo! - Can you believe it? Fifteen years of providing affordable, accessible, and integrated housing to the Austin community. - [Crowd Member] Yay! - [Crowd Member] Yay! Woo! - AHA was founded, back in 2005, by members of ADAPT of Texas, who understood the barriers to locating housing that was truly usable by persons with mobility impairments. - [Crowd Member] Yeah! - [Jolene] Our first two homes were donated by ADAPT members, JT Templeton and Carol Eisenberg. We still own those homes today. They are still in use as affordable, accessible housing. To date, we have served 24 households, across nine units, with, at least, one household member having some form of disability. Today, we celebrate the addition of 27 more households to the AHA family. - [Crowd Member] Yay! - [Crowd Member] Woo hoo! - Many in our new family, also, need the accessibility modifications that we provide. AHA at Briarcliff has been 10 years in the making. Our amazing partners at the Housing Authority of the City of Austin offered us this land because they, like we, know how hard it is to find housing that is truly accessible, affordable, and integrated. We are so grateful for their unwavering support. A few of the many reasons that this project is just so special is that, every unit in this complex, is fully accessible to persons with a mobility impairment. - [Crowd Members] Woo! - [Crowd Member] Yeah! We have lowered countertops, lowered breaker boxes, we have ADA and Energy Star appliances, and we have roll-in showers. In addition, both of our buildings are served by large elevators and even our picnic tables and mailboxes are wheelchair or scooter-friendly. - [Crowd Member] Yay! - [Crowd Member] All right! - [Jolene] Yeah. - We had a dream team of construction professionals to assist us in achieving this project. Mitch Weynand, our project manager. - [Crowd Member] Yay, Mitch! - [Crowd Member] Woo hoo! - He was joined by the design team at Community Powered Workshop, formerly ACDDC. - [Crowd Member] Woo! - And the beautiful execution was done by Braun & Butler construction. So, to recap, not only was our complex built to Fair Housing Section 504 and ADA standards, but we were able to tap the lived experience of people who have mobility impairments to truly ensure the usability of our apartments. To the AHA staff, Chris and Kristen, you both have been incredible. - [Chris] Thank you. - [Kristen] Thank you. - [Crowd Member] Woo! - [Crowd Member] Yeah! - We're amazed, every day, at how quickly you have been able to handle the ever-changing and increasing challenges thrown your way. To the AHA board of directors, - [Crowd Member] Woo! - whose lived experience made this truly, truly accessible, above and beyond the standards, we cannot thank you enough for your years and years of dedication to this project. It has been nothing short of legendary. Speaking of legends, I'm gonna go ahead and introduce our board president, and the woman who started this all, Stephanie Thomas. - [Crowd Members] Woo! - [Crowd Member] Yay! - I wrote some notes for this but, as I look through the crowd, I see so many faces that have spent so much time and energy, making this happen. I just feel like y'all already know the history, you know the story of what we've been through, and I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. For over 15 years, we have been aiming for this goal and today we are, I don't know, cracking the champagne bottle, cutting the ribbon, launching into the new phase of AHA and I'm just so proud and so grateful to all of you. Joe talked about the affordability, the accessibility, and the integration aspects of our housing. These are critical from the point of view of the people that started AHA and one of them, she's not here, so I'm gonna pick on her. But one of our board members, Jean Langendorf, rarely gets the credit she deserves. She's the one who came to me and said, "We need to start a housing "for people with disabilities "because it doesn't exist in Austin "and we need it." It doesn't hardly exist in this country. This is a very unique organization. But this dream went on and on. I don't think I've been on such a bumpy road on any project I've ever been involved in and I've been on some bumpy projects in my day. But we have had hurdle after hurdle and because of all of you, and many others, we have been able to jump over them or, as you can see, I'm not much of a jumper so we just plow through them and keep going. - [Crowd Member] That's right. - And we wind up with this gorgeous apartment building and our tenants, who are already moving in. It is such a joy to be here today. There are people I do want to thank, very much. I have to start with HACA, the Housing Authority of the City of Austin, and Jim Hargrove and Ron Kowal and Mike Gerber because they are the ones who let us use this land to build this apartment building. They got us launched, really. The Texas State Affordable Housing Corporation has been a huge, huge supporter of AHA, especially Dave Danenfelzer. They helped us get some of our homes, before this one, and now they're helping with this and they've really been a partner. The City of Austin Neighborhood Housing and Community Development, now the Planning Department, deserves a huge amount of credit, as well because they've helped us find funds. They helped us navigate through the tricky, messy red tape of government. It just shows, to me, this is a picture of what a community can build and a community of all different kinds of people. We're all very different but we all came together and we made this happen. So I'm very, very proud to be able to launch this and I really appreciate you coming out here to share this important moment with us. Thank you. - Stephanie, tell us what your involvement was in this project to get this beautiful apartment complex up and running. - Well, Jean Langendorf and I, and some other ADAPT folks started Accessible Housing Austin, 15 years ago to start creating more affordable, accessible, and integrated housing; housing that was affordable to people on disability incomes, not affordable housing that's, really, beyond a lot of people's reach. And we started it to make it accessible, obviously, so people with disabilities could use it, and have it be universally accessible so you don't have to wait for a certain unit if you have this certain condition. And then, also, integrated so that people with and without disabilities are living together and not just separated off into some kind of segregated situation. And we started then, but even then, I've always wanted to have an apartment building. We started with houses because JT and Carol Eisenberg donated their homes. They were people with disabilities that had been in institutions and had gotten out and, through the Home of Your Own program, got their own houses. And so, we started with the houses and then we got some more from another program. But I always wanted to do apartments 'cause they're more affordable. And, so then, we've been trying to, the housing authority came to us and said, "We have this piece of land. "You can build something on it. "We'd love to have you there." And so, we were launched, in that way, but then we had to spend all of this time gathering up the money to get it build. It took a lot of work from a lot of sources but we were finally able to get it all together. And then, even after all of that and a bunch of red tape and blah, blah, we got hit with COVID, right when we were starting to build. - Oh, boy. - And it was so scary and we thought, oh, my god. You know, when things were hard to find, building materials and everything. I'm not sure why but it got difficult to find stuff. We were worried for the builders but the people that Braun & Butler, that were the construction people, they were very conscientious about that. So, slowly but surely, we were able to get that done. It's so ironic because we got squeezed, at the end, for money because it took so long. Everything was getting more and more expensive, every day. It was freaky. And so, got another, we got some of the HMOs to donate, at the very end, to help us with that. And then, people started to move in and the snow-mageddon, or whatever they call it, the storm, and then the losing of power and water, and all of that, that came down just when people were moving in and it was like, what else? But so far, so good since then and it's just been a really, testament to perseverance and a testament to community because a lot of people helped make this happen. It grew out of fighting for accessible housing, fighting for affordable housing. ADAPT worked so hard and so long on those issues and it wasn't really happening. And then that's why we just decided we needed to do that. But we're not stopping fighting for accessible and affordable housing. AHA is not going to be able to do the whole job, so I would like to invite your viewers to join the fight for accessible, affordable, integrated housing, that doesn't have social workers coming into your apartment, every other minute, to find out what the heck you're up to or other kinds of things like that. - So the people that want to get involved, how will they contact you? - Well, the best way to get a hold of me is through ADAPT and, since we're not really working in our offices because of the whole COVID situation, my cell phone number is 512-415-7200 or you can email me at Stephanie, S-T-E-P-H-A-N-I-E .adapt, A-D-A-P-T, at sbcuglobal.net, either way. I'm not the best with my email, but if you text me, that's the best way to get a hold of me. - Excellent. - We really appreciate you guys turning out, really, a lot. We're not stoppin' here. - Excellent. - Thank you guys, very much, for what you're doing. - Yes, indeed. Thank you, Stephanie and Joe and all the other people on the board and the people involved in funding. A huge collection of people went into the making of this so my hat's off to 'em, Dave. - All right, Gene. So, for this time, it's adios and I'll catch you on the next show. - Adios, folks. - Buh-bye. - [Woman] Mom afford to have help preparing her meals? We know what you're going through. Amerigroup has a plan for people with Medicaid that helps them get the services they need to live at home. Amerigroup, choose us for helping your loved ones live at home. Call 1-800-964-2777.