Austin City Council eyes housing density

Axios Austin
Nicole Cobler
July 20, 2023

City Council members are expected to consider a resolution Thursday to rewrite the city's land development code, a move aimed at tamping down rising housing costs and creating more housing for the city's middle-income earners.​​​​​​​

What's happening: The resolution, sponsored by Council Member Leslie Pool, would shrink the minimum lot size of 5,750 square feet to 2,500 square feet or less and allow at least three units per lot in areas with single-family zoning.

• Mayor Kirk Watson and council members José Vela, Zohaib Qadri and Paige Ellis have also signed on as co-sponsors.

Between the lines: Austin's housing code was written in the 1980s, and current lot size and unit requirements have driven up the cost of housing, leaving many middle-income earners priced out, Pool wrote in an email to constituents.

• The resolution would amend the code "so that existing standard-size lots can be subdivided, and be developed with a variety of housing types such as row houses, townhomes, tri-and four-plexes, garden homes and cottage courts."

Flashback: It's the latest move to try to update the code.

• The Council launched an effort called Code Next to allow for more housing density more than a decade ago, but was stymied amid vocal opposition and court battles.

What they're saying: "The amount of people that we're pricing out of these neighborhoods has just gone up and up because we have had the same minimum lot sizes for decades," said Greg Anderson, director of community affairs at Austin Habitat for Humanity and a member of the policy committee for HousingWorks, an affordable housing nonprofit.

• "There's just so many failings to this exclusionary zoning, and this is going to allow for a broader range of income earners and allow for more diverse housing types," Anderson added.

By the numbers: Austin's 2020 Housing Market Analysis found that townhome or triplex styles attainable for middle-income families make up only about 12% of the city's housing stock, Pool noted in her email.

• New research shows that homeownership for middle-income earners in Austin dropped to 28% of that group, from nearly 50% in 2012, according to Pool.

The other side: The resolution has received pushback from neighborhood groups, who argue that developers are being handed a golden ticket to demolish homes and replace them with tightly packed triplexes.

• Attorney Fred Lewis' Community Not Commodity group, which has led past legal fights against land use reform, called on supporters to oppose the vote at Thursday's meeting, saying the code update will have "serious consequences" for taxes, infrastructure and safety "and will ultimately displace thousands of families."

What's next: If the resolution is adopted, city staff will draft the zoning changes and the city manager is expected to provide a progress update in early November.