Austinites seeking to open child or adult care centers across the city now have many more options to choose from.

The breakdown

In an attempt to streamline the process of establishing child care centers and make such services more accessible, City Council voted to greatly expand local land-use allowances for such facilities and simplify options for child care development in residential areas citywide.

The move is based on a proposal from council member Vanessa Fuentes that council initially passed earlier this year, and comes as many city officials have maintained a focus on child care access in Austin.
"I’m pleased that today with this vote we will be codifying these changes, which will allow whole properties throughout the city to be zoned for day care services. ... This is one thing that we’re doing as a council to address child care accessibility, availability," Fuentes said Oct. 19. "We know child care costs are a huge factor for many of our working families, and in order to make child care more affordable, we have to make it easier to build child care centers throughout our city."

The details


The changes codified Oct. 19 include:
  • Creating a new zoning designation for child care centers
  • Expanding land-use allowances for child care centers across the city, and making those facilities a permitted use in areas identified as child care deserts. Child care deserts are places where the demand for services for young children outpaces the number of local providers by at least three times.
  • Allowing accessory child care facilities in residential areas
  • Increasing the number of enrolled members allowed at child care centers
  • Removing requirements for on-site parking at such facilities
  • Blocking the effects of Austin's compatibility standards on child care facilities
“We’ve got to enable [child care] and make it as cheap as possible, and this is a great item that will help us do that," council member Chito Vela said.

Child care centers will also be more easily included in vertical mixed-use developments—residential and commercial projects built under an affordability program that grants increased building height in exchange for income-restricted housing.

Additionally, adult care services will now be permitted alongside child care centers. Conditional permits for operations will still be required in industrial areas.

By the numbers


The new regulations increase the available space for commercial child care centers in Austin by about 77,000 acres—more than 250%, according to a staff report.

Specifically in child care deserts, the area open to commercial facilities jumped about 222% to 60,339 acres total.
Much of Austin is designated as a child care desert, or an area where demand for services for young children outpace the number of local providers by at least three times. (Courtesy city of Austin)
Much of Austin is designated as a child care desert, or an area where demand for services for young children outpace the number of local providers by at least three times. (Courtesy city of Austin)
City staff said the changes target the rising costs of child care across Central Texas.

"Data indicates that child care is a substantial budget item for a majority of families and prices are especially untenable for low-income families. Across the Austin metropolitan area, child care prices as a share of median family income range from 7.6% to 16% depending on the type of care," staff wrote in a report on the proposal. "Increasing opportunities for the siting and expansion of new child care facilities, especially home-based facilities that are often more affordable options, will help to alleviate the cost burden of child care on families within the Austin area."