HOME initiative, July 20, item 126

[Leslie Pool]

Colleagues, on this week’s agenda, I’m pleased to introduce Item 126, an initiative I am calling HOME (Home Options for Middle-income Empowerment). HOME is intended to benefit middle-income households by encouraging smaller single-family homes and to provide options for existing homeowners in the following ways:

1. Reduce the minimum lot size requirement to promote smaller single-family homes such as townhomes or cottage courts that are more attainable for homebuyers in the middle-income bracket. Those types of single-family homes make up only 12% of Austin’s housing stock, and
2. Allow three units per single family lot by right. This portion is intended to assist existing homeowners who want options for multigenerational living, or to monetize their property to pay the bills.

I've heard some misinformation floating around about item 126: specifically, that this initiative would do away with single-family zoning and replace it with multi-family zoning. This proposal does not eliminate single-family zoning - in fact, my proposal would add options and entitlements to single-family use, and create more housing opportunity for middle-income homeowners.

Along with my Council colleagues past and present, I’ve championed strategies to meet the challenges of our growing city: building out our corridors, crafting new, denser planning areas, easing, and adjusting constraints like compatibility and minimum parking requirements, and leading the push to achieve the vision of the North Burnet/Gateway area as a driving economic and housing engine.

These are all effective strategies, but they haven’t moved the needle on two of my longstanding questions: what tools do we have to empower those already here to age in place, and how do we achieve more single-family ownership opportunities for middle-income earners, a key constituency essential for the overall sustainability of Austin?

Several studies, including the City’s 2020 housing analysis, data compiled by City Demographer Lila Valencia, as well as national housing reports and studies, all punctuated by individual anecdotes reported in the media recently, point to the same conclusion: Austin is losing our middle class, which is the very economic and social foundation that sustains a city and a public school system.

"We are seeing higher shares of people with higher shares of income and lower shares of people with lower shares of income," Valencia told an Austin Business Journal panel in January of this year. She added that middle-income families are leaving the city. “We need to make sure that we are able to provide housing for those families as well."

The status quo of limited options is not sustainable, in which middle-income earners choose between one type of single-family home on a large, expensive lot or a luxury condo on a corridor. We can do so much better for teachers, first responders, small business employees, government workers, and nurses, who all have great jobs, but can’t afford to invest in our city.

I recall a conversation with a school official last year describing the difficulty AISD teachers have in finding a home to purchase here in Austin instead of bearing the time and cost of a commute from Kyle. “Eventually,” she warned me, “they will decide the commute is not worth the trouble and take a job at Hays Consolidated.”

This story applies across many professions, affecting retention and recruitment of staff for the school district, small business, and other public agencies with a large contingent of middle-income earners, including the City of Austin.

I remain a strong supporter of neighborhoods across the city and believe that increasing single-family ownership opportunities for middle-income earners and offering options for existing homeowners who are struggling to stay, is good for communities everywhere. In planning for the future, more neighbors invested in single-family homes means stronger and more viable neighborhoods.

I have also been dissatisfied that the only tool we use to increase single-family ownership inside neighborhood is selective upzoning of individual parcels, a piecemeal and polarizing approach that unfairly advantages one person over another. Upzoning also has major downsides for areas already vulnerable to gentrification.

I’ve been asked why not include an affordability requirement, and why not apply these tools geographically instead of across the city? In both cases, I certainly appreciate the concepts, and I understand the concern. I would say that those ideas run counter to the intent to create a level playing field for homeowners across the city, particularly an unequal distribution. Additionally, placing a financial constraint of affordability would unnecessarily limit this program and would not provide the benefits intended since middle-income earners do not qualify for subsidized units.

I’ve also been asked, why now? I stress that now is the best time to act: with the increasingly irrefutable data, doing nothing is not an option.
And importantly for all of us, we have the leadership on the Council dais and in City Management and staff that will assure the most thoughtful, considered outcome to benefit the most people.

This is the beginning of the conversation on these ideas, and there will be multiple opportunities for public input over the coming months. I am insisting on frequent, and regular public updates on the progress of HOME as we move forward.

I thank my colleagues who have joined me in this effort: Council Member Chito Vela, Mayor Pro Tem Paige Ellis, Council Member Zo Qadri, and Mayor Kirk Watson. I Invite all my colleagues to support this initiative and help Austin deliver true benefits to those looking to buy a home, as well as those working to stay.

I also want to extend my appreciation to MPT Ellis for her leadership on item 158. Staff has provided a very efficient and effective ordinance implementing Phase One of ‘Site Plan Lite’ which will go a long way toward making our processes more affordable and more accessible to homeowners. I joined MPT Ellis in this effort last fall, and I consider this item to be complimentary to the HOME proposal.

I include here a fact sheet further laying out the rationale of the resolution with some resource links and photos of example smaller single-family housing types that could be built with the changes I am proposing.

Fact Sheet & Photos: http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 173047.pdf

I have pulled this item for our work session tomorrow. I look forward to our discussion.

Leslie

[Jose Chito Vela]

Thank you, Council Member Pool, for sponsoring the HOME Initiative. I am very excited to be a cosponsor and look forward to voting for this item on Thursday!

Our median home price is now $609,500, up from $371,250 just 5 years ago. This is not sustainable. We must create lower priced home options for our residents.

Too many young families are forced to leave Austin for Manor or Pflugerville in order to find a home they can afford. I know too many families who saved $20k for a down payment on a home, but as soon as they had that ready, they needed $30k. Then they needed $40k, then they just gave up and moved to the suburbs. This hurts our neighborhoods, our schools and our tax base.

A 6000sf lot is more expensive than a 3000sf lot. This is the basic reality of the housing market. Allowing homes on smaller lots is a simple and easy way to make homes more affordable for middle and working class people.

Chito

[Julie Montgomery]

On behalf of MPT Ellis:

Thank you, Council Member Pool, for leading on this important initiative that will make housing and homeownership more attainable. It’s difficult to see so many longtime – even lifelong – Austinites pushed out of the city they planted roots in because of a lack of affordable and available housing options. This resolution will help fill the gap for many middle-income households, including those who hope to raise their families here and older adults wishing to age in place.

The timing could not be better as a separate item on this week’s agenda will significantly aid this HOME initiative. Item 158 is an update from my Dec. 2022 resolution, which you graciously cosponsored, scaling site plan requirements for missing middle housing. Phase I includes streamlining triplex and fourplex permitting processes, and Phase II focuses on developments with five to sixteen units. Together, our two initiatives will open doors to more housing opportunities and affordability citywide! I’m so grateful for your partnership and leadership.

Paige