City of Austin staff will spend the next year exploring how the creation of new zoning districts could add more affordable housing to the market. <\/p>\n
The resolution approved<\/a> by Austin City Council on Thursday asks staff to research the zoning districts that would allow for smaller housing options like townhomes, cottage courts and smale-scale, multi-unit buildings. This is sometimes referred to as “missing middle housing.” <\/p>\n The resolution also includes direction to research more mixed-use developments, which combine housing and commercial opportunities.<\/p>\n Council Member Paige Ellis, who authored the resolution, said this builds on the city\u2019s past efforts to expand home-building options in ways that create walkable and transit-focused areas.<\/p>\n \u201cOver the past 40 years, less than 1% of the housing built in Austin has been ‘missing middle,’ and I think they are really good uses of property,\u201d Ellis said. \u201cI think they create walkable neighborhoods and are more environmentally sustainable than some of the other options.\u201d<\/p>\n Ellis is drawing from a January study<\/a> that found Austin\u2019s current housing stock is limited outside of single-family homes or large apartment complexes.<\/p>\n That is because the city\u2019s 1984 land development code \u2014 the rule book for what and where things can be built \u2014 largely supports those two housing types.<\/p>\n The new zoning districts would allow developers to build housing to accommodate different space needs, like multi-generational homes or people looking to downsize, and potentially make owning a home more attainable for families who can\u2019t afford a single-family home. A change in zoning could also increase access to parks, schools and jobs, according to the study.<\/a><\/p>\n Many residents were supportive of diversifying home-buying options.<\/p>\n Judah Rice, who lives in District 3, said allowing this type of diverse housing allows people to live closer to where they work and play, and commute via walking and biking. He said it enhances neighborhoods, not destroys them.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause neighborhoods are more than a sum of their buildings,\u201d Rice said. \u201cA neighborhood is made up of people and of families, and right now those people and those families cannot afford to live in our single-family exclusive housing.\u201d<\/p>\n But others, including Austin resident Bruce Greiner, who lives in Northwest Austin, opposed the changes. Greiner called the potential zoning change a \u201cdirect attack on the character and nature\u201d of single-family neighborhoods.<\/p>\n \u201cAffordable housing can be encouraged without destroying single-family neighborhoods,\u201d Greiner said. \u201cThese policies are contrary to what many hold dear \u2014 residing in neighborhoods designed for single-family homes with safe streets, yards to play in, low traffic, vehicles parked in garages and driveways and no businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n Strong community opposition is why updates to the land development code have come piecemeal over the last few years. In 2018, the city tried to do a major overhaul of the 1984 land code but failed after residents sued the city and won<\/a>.<\/p>\n In 2023, the city changed the rules to allow more than one home<\/a> on a plot of land. Then in 2024, the city reduced the amount<\/a> of land required to build a house on. The city has also passed new rules that removed parking mandates for residential builds <\/a> and allowed denser and taller apartments<\/a> in exchange for affordable-rated apartments.<\/p>\n Council Member Jos\u00e9 Vel\u00e1squez said this is another tool the city could use to help move that goal along.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a great opportunity to highlight how duplexes, quadruplexes, townhomes and row homes all give people a more affordable, transit-oriented part of Austin,\u201d Vel\u00e1squez said. \u201cNo single zoning change will solve Austin\u2019s housing and affordability issues, but our goal as a city is to add more tools to the toolbox to create more housing options.\u201d<\/p>\n City staff are expected to come back with code update recommendations next March. There will be public input before the city implements changes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"City of Austin staff will spend the next year exploring how the creation of new zoning districts could…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":223587,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1500,132,1501,134,42574,133,1223,60706,86953,86954,3669],"class_list":{"0":"post-223586","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austin","8":"tag-affordable-housing","9":"tag-austin","10":"tag-austin-city-council","11":"tag-austin-headlines","12":"tag-austin-housing","13":"tag-austin-news","14":"tag-austin-texas","15":"tag-missing-middle-housing","16":"tag-missing-middle-housing-resolution","17":"tag-mixed-used-developments","18":"tag-paige-ellis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223586\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}