Austin debates smaller lot sizes for affordable housing

The Austin City Council heard public comments from hundreds of residents regarding the second phase of the HOME initiative, which proposes reducing the minimum lot size requirement for single-family homes from 5,750 to 2,000 square feet to increase housing density and affordability, with supporters arguing for more accessible housing and opponents expressing concerns about potential displacement and lack of equity protections.
Story 1: cbsaustin.com/news/local/aust...
Story 2: cbsaustin.com/more-to-watch/a...
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[@johnv4483]

"reducing the minimum lot size requirement for single-family homes from 5,750 to 2,000 square feet". Really packing them in! When the only thing that matters is more tax money & voters, this is what you get.

[@DOSU490]

Tenements. Will anyone on the City Council live there?
What’s the average lot size in Westlake? Or Tarry Town?

[@dandavis2981]

Starter homes are much better than being homeless. They shouldn't be illegal to build unless they are actually unsafe?

[@mariusfacktor3597]

The HOME initiative is about reducing minimum lot sizes. Let's unpack what that means. Austin has rules in place that in order for you to have a home, it must have at least so much land. You can't build a low-cost home if you need to purchase a large lot. Minimum lot sizes were put in place to keep low-cost housing out. They were classist laws meant to segregate the community by income. The people in this video who spoke against HOME are confused. They think that by allowing smaller lot sizes, and thus cheaper homes, it will somehow reduce affordability. They have it 180 degrees backwards. Smaller lot sizes enables cheaper homes and gives more people the opportunity to live in Austin. If they want affordable deed restrictions and public housing as well, that's great, and they should advocate for those things, but they should not advocate against reducing minimum lot sizes because those were classist laws meant to exclude the poor.

[@Roboto129]

For socialists, ‘equality’ means all the little people being equally miserable. NOT ONE of those promoting this measure will ever raise a family in these shacks they want for other people. NONE of them will inhabit one of these small homes they promote so nicely as a solution for ‘others’. The poor souls that invest on these will someday own real estate they cannot sell. An overcrowded neighborhood is just not in line with the mental picture of successful middle class families. So these neighbors will deteriorate given enough time and the land will end up in the hands of apartment complex corporations. Like any socialists economic measure, at the end, those ‘helped’ will end up worse.