Stephanie Bergara stared at the stack of mortgage papers on the table, equal parts thrilled and terrified.
After a year of house hunting in Austin, the single mother had finally settled on a place she could picture herself and her son: a three-bedroom ranch with a yard, an office and a closet big enough for the glittery costumes she wears on stage with her Selena tribute band, Bidi Bidi Banda.
But the house was in Manor. And even with the lower price, sitting inside the title company that day sent Bergara into a silent panic. Her job in the City of Austin’s Music and Entertainment Division didn’t bring in big money. Neither did her life as a working musician.
How the hell am I going to do this? she thought. I’m going to have to gig my ass off for groceries.
As Austin grapples with an ongoing affordable housing crisis, the city that bills itself the “Live Music Capital of the World” continues to price out the very musicians it relies on to sustain its image and fuel billions of dollars in tourism. Bergara is among the growing number of performers pushed to nearby cities including Lockhart, Manor, San Marcos and Bastrop in search of attainable housing – places that, for many musicians, are becoming harder to afford themselves.
Now, a mix of nonprofits, advocates and city art proponents are exploring how to provide targeted housing and financial support that could help keep musicians rooted in Austin.
One of the city’s largest providers of affordable housing — Foundation Communities — is trying to raise money for a building that would give preference to musicians and include amenities such as studio space, soundproof apartments and gear storage.
Nonprofits, advocacy groups and city staffers are also meeting regularly to talk about affordable housing. Whether those initiatives will pan out or keep musicians in Austin has yet to be seen. But artists like Erin Walter, singer and bassist of Parker Woodland, see the dissonance in being a financial boon to a city many musicians can’t afford to live in.
“It’s spiritually and emotionally disheartening to live in a city that has grown and built wealth on the title of Live Music Capital Of The World,” Walter said, “but it is so difficult to make a living as a working musician.”
A lifelong connection to Austin – and a losing housing market
Live music was a staple in Bergara’s life growing up in Dove Springs. Her family faithfully attended concerts at Fiesta Gardens, Waterloo Park and Aqua Fest. They listened to Latin Funk and Tejano music, with Selena as a constant.
Bergara became a singer. In 2014, what was supposed to be a one-off performance of Selena’s music took off. Bidi Bidi Banda was born.
In 2020, Bergara launched her first home search. Her must-have location: Austin. She wanted to live in the city that fostered her deep love of music, family and community.
Her timing couldn’t have been worse. Low interest rates and work-at-home mandates triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic caused a real estate boom in Austin. Home prices skyrocketed. The median sales price for an Austin home in January 2021 hit $455,000.
Bergara’s budget: $265,000.
She put in 10 offers on 10 houses, writing 10 letters to the sellers, hoping to convince them to sell to her because of her love of the city. No one bit. She couldn’t compete.
Bergara was at a sound check for a Dallas gig when her realtor called. It was time to look outside Austin.
Bergara walked to her dressing room and cried for 45 minutes.
“That day,” she said, “was one of the most heartbreaking days of my life.”
Support exists, but housing help is limited
City leaders and advocates have talked about affordable musician housing for decades – and with good reason. A 2022 survey of Austin musicians showed that 38 percent struggled to afford housing. One-third of those surveyed said they expected to leave the greater Austin area within three years.
When it comes to supporting musicians, the city has a community that provides a plethora of targeted services that help with mental health care, health insurance, affordable studio space or career education. The City of Austin chips in grants through the Live Music Fund to help artists make music.
“I mean, certainly, if you got a $30,000 grant from the city, that could help make a record, then that’s $30,000 you didn’t pull out of your own pocket and that helps,” said John Riedie with Austin Creative Alliance, a nonprofit serving the music, arts and culture community.
But few programs are geared specifically toward musician housing. Help with rent money or living expenses can be spotty, with nonprofits opening and closing assistance applications based on their own budgets or priorities.
“This needs to be an evolving and updated conversation around this issue because these needs are always the same, but the conditions around them are always changing,” said Pat Buchta, executive director of Austin Texas Musicians, a nonprofit that advocates for improvements in the music industry.
Musicians are resilient and resourceful, said Ray Price, a musician and area director for Notes for Notes, a nonprofit that provides free studio space for young musicians. But some artists don’t ask for help they need.
“You know, the thing about musicians is that we’re very prideful, for the most part,” he said. “You don’t want anyone to know your weaknesses, your struggles.”
Searching for solutions and a way back
After a year of searching, Bergara finally bought a house in the summer of 2021.
She still wanted to be in Austin. But a central-city mortgage wouldn’t work with a kid and the neverending expenses of managing a band.
“It’s just staggering,” Bergara said, now the programming and event manager at Waterloo Greenway. “I’m sitting here as a full-time employee at an organization and a working musician. I play about 50 shows a year. With my mortgage and expenses and things we just need, I’m still sitting here going, ‘Okay, I might be able to afford this or afford that.’”
Changing that reality for Austin’s musicians is going to take some coordination.
This fall, multiple organizations including Austin Creative Alliance, Austin Texas Musicians and the city’s Office of Arts, Culture, Music and Entertainment started meeting to discuss ways to increase affordable housing for musicians.
“There’s about nine of us nonprofits in the city talking about housing in a concerted way, because a lot of different people were talking about it, but they weren’t talking to each other,” Riede said.
Walter Moreau, executive director of Foundation Communities, has another idea that could eventually help musicians. He’s hoping to develop an eight-acre campus on South Lamar Boulevard, right near the Saxon Pub, that could devote some affordable housing space to musicians, specifically.
“We could do a preference for musicians on a portion of units, and design some amenities that really support musicians,” Moreau said. He is currently talking with a wealthy music supporter to help raise the estimated $5 million that amenities like rehearsal space, storage for band equipment and soundproof apartments would run.
One of the barriers to musician housing, he said, has been consistent pushback over the years from city leaders who say affordable housing shouldn’t be targeted for one specific group when so many people need it, like teachers or single parents.
Moreau rejects that position.
“Who’s to say that musicians are not all those things anyway, because they can’t survive alone on their music gigs,” he said. “They have other jobs. They are single moms.”
Bergara fits that description. For now, she’s made a life in Manor, where she is raising her son and continuing to build a music career that began in the city she still calls home.
But there’s one line in her music bio she still wishes she could write: “Stephanie lives in Austin with her son.”
