Rosewood Amenity Preference Survey – Bus Tour and Keypad Polling

Rosewood Courts residents have been actively engaged in exploring options for the future of Rosewood Courts. At several meetings, residents were asked to identify issues with their current units and the property.  Unit size, lack of dryer hookups, inadequate electrical service, inability to hang pictures on walls, steep concrete interior stairways, issues with mold and mildew, the lack of an on-site management office, sparse and limited resident parking and poor site accessibility were among the plethora of issues identified. These are consistent with the deficiencies identified by HACA in its physical needs assessments. Activities used to gather resident preferences and insights include the following:

• Bus Tour: In May 2013, 25 Rosewood Courts residents attended a bus tour of a number of affordable housing developments in Austin to acquaint them with the types of amenities possible at a redeveloped Rosewood Courts. Residents visited and took digital pictures of the following properties: La Vista de Guadalupe, Lyons Gardens and M Station in East Austin; Wildflower Terrace in Central Austin in the Mueller Development; Bent Tree in West Austin and Park at Summers Grove in North Austin. The bus tour allowed residents to see what other affordable housing properties look like, what populations they serve, amenities they offer, where they are located, and to begin thinking about the types of elements that they would like to see at Rosewood Courts.
• Amenity Preference Survey: Based on the amenities identified as desirable by bus tour participants, and other housing development types and amenities identified by the planning team, a meeting for Rosewood Courts residents was convened to discuss what the tour participants had observed and how desired design elements could be incorporated into design alternatives for Rosewood Courts. Residents indicated design preferences through a keypad polling exercise. Among the desired on-site amenities were childcare facilities, open space and play areas, laundry facilities, parking, and improved unit functionality and accessibility of units.

Click Here to Download Resident Preference Results (700 k)