Decibel
“There Needs To Be Some Changes”: Austinites Split On HOME Phase 2
Clip | 5m 33sVideo has Closed Captions
The minimum lot size for single family homes drops to 1800 square feet.
Everyone agrees housing is too expensive, but there’s lots of disagreement on how to fix it . Last week, the Austin City Council passed HOME Phase 2, a new policy that decreases the minimum residential lot size from 5,750 square feet to 1800 square feet. Proponents believe the measure will increase density and lower housing costs. But some residents fear they’ll be the ones to pay the price.
Decibel is a local public television program presented by Austin PBS
Funding for Decibel is provided in part by Texas Mutual and Roxanne Elder & Scott Borders
Decibel
“There Needs To Be Some Changes”: Austinites Split On HOME Phase 2
Clip | 5m 33sVideo has Closed Captions
Everyone agrees housing is too expensive, but there’s lots of disagreement on how to fix it . Last week, the Austin City Council passed HOME Phase 2, a new policy that decreases the minimum residential lot size from 5,750 square feet to 1800 square feet. Proponents believe the measure will increase density and lower housing costs. But some residents fear they’ll be the ones to pay the price.
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[Felicity] I'm here in support of HOME Phase 2.
[Alfredo] I want them to vote no.
And hopefully they'll still be able to change that policy.
my name is Tai Hovanky And I am here in support of HOME Phase 2.
My name is Misael Ramos and I'm actually here to support, the East Austin community.
[Ella] I'm for HOME Phase 2.
Yeah.
[Mayor Watson] I'll call to order the meeting of the Austin City Council.
Members, the order for the day is that we will hear speakers both virtual and in-person on our agenda items... [Cindy] HOME Phase 2 is going up for a vote.
[Felicity] We require you buy a lot of land when you want to build a house, [Tai] I think it's like 5,750 square feet.
[Ella] 5,750 square feet-- And one of the biggest changes in HOME Phase 2 is allowing that to go to a much smaller size.
[Cindy] They want to change that to 1500 square feet.
[Felicity] 1500 would be tremendous, we understand that the current amendment is something like 1800, But you know, as people who want to see more folks have opportunities to own houses, the smaller the lot size, the less land, the more affordable the houses.
and it's really important that the city knows that this is a false solution to a true affordability crisis that we have.
[Alfredo] We need places to be able to live and, and have a family.
Have a community that we can all stick together and help each other.
[Tai] Anybody that can afford to move into an existing lot, it's going to be somebody that can afford to, like, redevelop it or turn it into like what you see in a lot of neighborhoods that are rapidly gentrifying.
So on smaller lot sizes, the houses themselves can be smaller and they become like what we call like naturally affordable, right?
[Misael] A lot of people around the city, they use affordability, interchangeably.
But when we're looking at certain areas, especially East Austin, affordability means something totally different than what we see in west Austin.
And and so we really need to, like, come to a common ground and, common, you know, focal point of what affordability actually means to us so that when we're building affordable housing, it's actually for the people who actually need it.
[Alfredo] My rent alone right now, I'm paying 1495, and my landlord is trying to raise another $500.
And I can't even afford the 1495.
What makes you think I'm gonna be able to afford another $500?
[Ella] It's supply and demand, like, if there's not enough of something and everybody wants it, it's going to be really expensive.
So if we make sure there's enough housing for everybody that needs it, it's going to be a lot easier to find that housing that we need.
[Cindy] We definitely need to add more housing stock, but we shouldn't just use some of the same old things that aren't working, which is to just rezone and up-zone property, and it just raises the cost of housing.
[Felicity] We know Austin has changed rapidly and that has led to displacement and gentrification across our city.
And I think the thing we're really trying to point out is that if you keep the land development code the way it is right now with these larger lot size and bigger requirements, then we're going to continue to see the trends we've already seen.
So let's try something different.
We understand that there are concerns about gentrification.
And I think our city council is working really hard to prevent as much of that as possible.
[Daniel] The problem is my city council, [speaker] When I say solution, you say real!
- -Solution!
- -Real!
- -When I say housing... [Daniel] They're selling it to everybody as it's going to increase affordable housing.
There's not one stitch in the HOME initiative that addresses affordable housing, not one.
It's an illusion.
[Misael] So the thing that doesn't make me feel great about it is there's no actual affordability component that's being incorporated with any of the phases of HOME.
If you're not guaranteeing affordability, then essentially you're basically asking the market to try to make affordable housing, quote unquote, more affordable.
Right.
unfortunately, you know, we don't we don't technically see that happen all the time.
[Ella] Right now, if there's an empty lot that has a minimum lot size of 5750 square feet, you're going to, a developer is going to come along, and the only thing that they're going to be able to build there is a giant house that nobody in that neighborhood is going to be able to afford.
of course those people are going to get pushed out.
So we should be making sure that it gets redeveloped into something that people can actually afford, instead of something that only serves the richest and whitest people in Austin.
[Felicity] When you make a smaller lot size, you get less expensive housing.
So let's try it at least and see what happens.
[Tai] I'm Tai Hovanky in District 5, speaking in support of HOME 2 and all the proposed land use reforms... [Tai] I'm pushing for this because I don't feel like we should wait super long, have like another decade's worth of meetings and, you know, et cetera, like it'll take several years just for the housing to be built as a result of this.
So it'll take a while to even see the results.
Right.
Like, this is something that deserves a lot of urgency, basically.
[Mayor Watson] Without objection, Item Number 6 as amended, is approved... [Misael] It goes back to like taking into account, parts of Austin that haven't had, you know, the most resources given to them.
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