AUSTIN, Texas — Austin residents, particularly those in the West Campus neighborhood, will soon no longer be left in the dark.
On Thursday, the Austin City Council met and approved changes to City Code Title 25, which previously did not require bedrooms to have windows.
District 9 Councilmember Zohaib "Zo" Qadri, who backed the resolution, said it was a matter of safety and well-being.
"The negative effects on folks' mental health, you know, depression and disorientation, loss of sense of time," Qadri said. "I don't think a person's quality of life should be sacrificed."
Qadri noted that the resolution solely prevents the future construction of windowless bedrooms. Existing buildings with windowless bedrooms will remain, but Qadri believes there will be ongoing talks about how to address the issue.
UT student Amy Franco lives on West Campus and said she pays an additional fee to have a window. Franco wasn't aware that windowless bedrooms were a reality because she had a window when she previously stayed at Jester Hall on campus.
"My parents were fully like, 'No mija' [my daughter], like, 'You're not going to enjoy being in a room without a window, so we'll pay the extra cost for you not to have to deal with that,'" Franco said. "[My roommate] doesn't have a window in our complex, and she like, is really depressed, so she's moving out next semester."
UT student James Goldblatt said he thinks it's a step in the right direction. However, he worries how charges will be set when those new developments do pop up.
"I would also like to see is, with the already doomed housing market, is realtors not up charging now that every room is going to have a window," Goldblatt said.
According to a recent report from KUT, the updates make it so that apartment complexes must now include at least one window. Either that, or bedrooms must have borrowed light source, where natural lighting is available from a nearby space, like a kitchen or living room.
The history of Austin's windowless bedrooms
For approximately 20 years, Austin builders have been creating windowless residential areas as a way to increase housing and decrease construction costs, according to KUT.
This type of structure has become increasingly common near the University of Texas at Austin, with many students living in these bedrooms without any natural sunlight.
In 2022, an apartment complex called Ion Austin had 222 windowless bedrooms, while another, the Legacy on Rio, had 115.
Living in a space with windows often means paying a higher price. At Ion Austin, residents have reportedly been charged $30 "Bedroom Window Upgrade" add-on fees.
Up until now, developers did not have to build windows because, if a fire happened, modern sprinkler systems were added as an extra form of safety.
The recent resolution was passed with the sponsorship and support of councilmembers Qadri, Ryan Alter, José Velásquez and Natasha Harper-Madison.
The changes are set to officially begin May 20. To learn more, read KUT's full report.