AUSTIN, Texas — The Austin City Council will soon decide whether to approve Phase 2 of the HOME Initiative, which would reduce the minimum size of single-family lots in the city.
The council passed Phase 1 of the initiative in December, which allows owners to build up to three homes on a single lot.
The HOME Initiative has been met with mixed reactions since its inception. Some say it's part of a solution for more affordable housing, while others say it will radically change the way neighborhoods look and feel and opens properties up to developers who don't have the neighborhoods' best interests in mind.
Coral Migony Ryan has lived in Wooten, a north central Austin neighborhood, for 40 years.
Ryan said the neighborhood has changed over time, but especially in the last few years. A few doors down from hers, on either side of her house, two single-family homes have turned into eight smaller ones – three-to-four tinier homes on one plot of land.
Ryan said she doesn't believe the homes are more affordable and said they are really changing the way the community looks.
She said she has gone to council meetings to talk about the HOME Initiative before, but she feels like those who are opposed to it are not being listened to.
“There's a sense of pressure of just being pushed out of here. Just wondering, ‘OK, what's next here? What's the next ruling that the city is going to come up with?'” she asked. “Even those that got up there and talked, I mean, what's the difference? What's the difference? It's just as though it's already set.”
Emily Chenevert, the CEO of the Austin Board of Realtors (ABoR), said she and the ABoR understand the concern expressed by those worried about property zoning changes. Bus she said the changes are necessary to create more opportunity for homes to be affordable.
According to Chenevert, in 2023, the median price of a home in Austin was over $540,000. However, she said the HOME Initiative’s Phase 2 would lower that cost, allowing the minimum lot size for a single family home to go from 5,000 square feet to 2,000.
Chenevert said this would lower the cost of the property by $60,000 on average.
“There's a natural understanding that if we're able to deliver housing at a lower price, that that is necessary, in the sense that we need to house people like firefighters and teachers and nurses who simply don't have the income to support living at today's prices in Austin,” Chenevert said. “This home base, too, will allow for more accessibility to housing at a lower level, which will be a benefit across the community.”
Chenevert said there is a very high demand for homes in the city, so she and the ABoR hope that the city council will pass the next phase of the HOME Initiative to allow additional access for people looking to live in Austin.
When asked about a possible Phase 3, Chenevert said that if council members see ways to improve the plan, then those changes could come. She said for now, the focus is just on Phase 2.
The Austin City Council will vote on Phase 2 possibly as early as May.
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