Austin City Council could vote on initial land development code changes Thursday

Austin City Council is expected to vote on phase one of its HOME initiative Thursday, a series of proposed changes to Austin's land development code.

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin City Council is expected to vote on phase one of its HOME initiative Thursday, a series of proposed changes to Austin's land development code.

HOME, which stands for Home Options for Middle-income Empowerment, is a proposal brought forward by Council Member Leslie Pool. In a conference Tuesday, she said the changing landscape in Austin has made single-family homes inaccessible, with Pool calling for diversified housing options.

At Tuesday's conference, those against HOME asked for a delayed vote on phase one to allow for more community engagement first. They said they worry affordable single-family homes could be torn down to make way for more expensive, luxury townhomes.

Supporters said more dense housing permitted in Austin will help with affordability. They pointed to cities like Houston and Portland that have seen some success since similar land development code changes were made.

You can read KXAN’s in-depth breakdown of the HOME initiative here.

The following are the proposed changes in phase one:

• Three units: Bumping the number of units “by right” allowed on a single-family lot to three
• Tiny homes: Patching loopholes in Austin’s land development code to more easily allow for tiny homes to be considered a unit on a lot zoned as single-family
• Preserving existing homes: Part of the HOME initiative creates a bonus program that encourages the preservation of houses already on lots
• House size limits: Setting “size constraints” to force smaller units