'How the hell are you doing this?': Watson says cities look to Austin for housing policy
AUSTIN (KXAN) -- During a regional housing summit Friday, Austin Mayor Kirk Watson flexed on adjustments made by the city of Austin to allow for more affordable housing.
Over the past few years Austin has made significant changes to its land development code, including: reducing minimum lot size requirements, allowing for more units to be built on a single-family lot and eliminating parking requirements.
"I can tell you for certain that Austin, Texas is in the vanguard of the national housing discussion and cities all over this country right now have been looking to us for ideas about how they address their own affordability challenges," Watson said. "Boston, Philadelphia, Dallas, San Antonio have all reached out asking in one form of this question or another, 'how the hell are you doing this?'"
Last month, Vice President JD Vance urged leaders at the National League of Cities to prioritize housing reform, using Austin as an example of success.
“We’ve got to actually make it easier to build homes, and in particular, I think the city of Austin has done a pretty interesting job, because in Austin, you saw this massive increase of people moving in, the cost of housing skyrocketed, but then Austin implemented some pretty smart policies and brought down the cost of housing, and it’s one of the few major American cities where you see the cost of housing leveling off or even coming down,” Vance said.
As recently as Thursday, Austin City Council approved a code amendment that allows more units to be built using only one central staircase.
"Heck, just yesterday we did something with regard to single stairway that people said wouldn't be able to happen in Austin, Texas. So thank you all very much," Watson said.
The city council is also asking for a study to understand the feasibility of allowing “single stair” buildings to reach up to six stories. Advocates of “single stair” housing say it will create more flexibility in how smaller complexes are built, potentially making them more affordable.
“In support of increased housing options, the Council adopted amendments allowing single-stairway designs in certain multi-family residential buildings up to five stories,” the city of Austin wrote in a news release.