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Housing

City planning revision of density bonus programs

Members of the city’s Housing and Planning Department say they will be hiring a consultant with expertise in creating and using incentives known as density bonuses to help them untangle the city’s myriad, often competing, development programs. Most of those…

ABOR report highlights striking disparities in housing affordability

A new report from one of the city’s leading real estate groups is bringing fresh, detailed data that shows how unaffordable housing has become for most local residents. Austin Board of Realtors’ “The Truth About Austin’s Missing Housing” uses industry…

City loses second suit over development rules

A group of citizens who sued the city over four ordinances designed to make it easier to develop new housing projects have apparently prevailed on three of the four laws. That means the city will have to go back to…

Panelists debate potential housing supply impacts from HOME initiative

Advocates for more housing options in Austin see hope in recently passed changes in city land use policy intended to increase density, but still hope for more progress in increasing the overall supply of housing available for middle- and lower-income…

Austin wants to make relocating a home easier to reduce waste and create affordable housing

In a move to create more options for affordable housing while also reducing waste, the city of Austin is trying to make it easier to relocate homes. When a builder comes in to redevelop a lot, the existing home is…

County contract to help more residents avoid eviction

The Travis County Commissioners Court approved a new contract Tuesday with nonprofit El Buen Samaritano to help more Travis County families stay in their homes. The contract is one part of the county’s response to rising eviction rates. In addition…

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RVs won't be allowed on single-family lots under coming code changes

When City Council considers changes to the Land Development Code in December, while they will discuss giving property owners the option of having three units on single-family lots and allowing tiny homes on those lots, they will not consider adding…

Tourism Commission joins staff in push for agreement with short-term rental companies

The Tourism Commission appears ready to push the city to come to an agreement with short-term rental platforms that will allow some regulation of the industry and allow the collection of millions of dollars in Hotel Occupancy Tax revenue each…

County adds more “deeply affordable” housing units

Travis County has built about 12,000 affordable housing units and has more on the way, Travis County Corporations Managing Director Andrea Shields told the Commissioners Court last Tuesday. “That number will need to be updated with what you may approve…

Developer of parking-free downtown apartments surrenders building to lender

A parking-free, 30-unit apartment building that gained attention as one of the first attempts to bring “missing middle” housing downtown has been turned over to its lender after failing to generate enough occupancy to operate successfully. Weaver Buildings, the company…

Are rents falling? Apartment association sees construction, weak demand causing 'negative rent growth'

A combination of softer demand by renters and new multifamily apartment units completing construction has caused some lowering of rents in the Austin market, according to members of the Austin Apartment Association. At a series of panel discussions last week,…

Qadri sets sights on closing ‘windowless-apartment loophole’

District 9 City Council Member Zo Qadri will sponsor a resolution “kick(ing) off the process to close the windowless-apartment loophole,” which in recent years has surfaced as a problem for students at the University of Texas at Austin and residents…

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