The South Austin Christian Church near South Congress Avenue in Austin on Monday, Aug. 24, 2026. | Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune
When a shrinking church proposed to turn its property in a wealthy South Austin neighborhood into homes for lower-income families, neighboring homeowners revolted — petitioning the Austin City Council to halt the project.
Neighbors complained the 64-unit development — nestled in a desirable neighborhood just a block from the South Congress shopping district — would be out of character with surrounding single-family homes. The complex, they told city officials, would be too tall. The combination of new homes and a preschool planned for the site would jam up neighborhood streets with traffic, they argued…