The affordable housing crisis in Austin is affecting college students in the area more heavily now than ever. College students in Austin are facing an unprecedented high price of housing in Austin, which is one of the hottest markets in the country. 

Ricardo Lewis commented on Twitter, saying, "Imagine being a college student in one of the most expensive cities in Texas AND paying astronomical rent prices on top of that. Many students are grinding to keep a roof."

The COVID pandemic has played a part in the rising housing prices in the city. However, COVID is just one component of rising prices in Austin and the surrounding areas. In truth, rising costs of housing is a problem that is not unique to Austin, but is uniquely bad in Austin. 

Another contributor to the housing prices crisis in Austin is the fact that building materials such as lumber, have experienced rapid inflation in recent months.The price of lumber continues to make building homes more expensive, further limiting the supply of available housing. 

Students in the area are doing what they can to keep the problem under control. Students on the Austin's College Student Commission are set to present new recommendations to address the student housing problems to the Austin City Council, hoping to meet an agreement or institute a housing program that addresses the problem that thousands of college students in the area are facing. 

Mayor Steve Adler called a meeting in late November in response to the crisis to look for ideas that would improve the supply of available housing and increase the affordability of that housing within the city. 

As long as the contributing factors to the crisis, such as lack of building supplies, continue, it is hard to see how the city could mitigate the problem to any degree of actual impact. One major contributing factor is the growth in the job market. Austin is now one of the country's hottest job markets. 

As a result, thousands of professionals are locating to the area and increasing the demand for housing and driving up prices. 

All in all, housing prices in Austin is the most significant economic issue that the area faces.