What's happening
City officials voted in May to cut Austin's minimum residential lot size, or the least amount of land needed to build single-family housing, by about two-thirds.
The passage of the second piece of HOME, or Housing Options for Middle-Income Empowerment, didn't put the new lot size rules into effect right away. While the city began processing HOME Phase 1 projects in February, plans for Phase 2 aren't being accepted until Aug. 16.
Zooming in
That August date doesn't apply for much of the city, where HOME Phase 2 will be further delayed until the fall.
Community members and city officials cited concerns over a few issues during discussion of HOME's second phase, and council members eventually voted to slow down its rollout in certain places. The reduced minimum lot size will apply starting Nov. 16 in:
- Austin's Wildland Urban Interface, or WUI, zone where different development rules apply for wildfire readiness
- Neighborhoods susceptible to displacement
An interactive map of Austin's displacement risk areas can be viewed in the center of the city webpage below. Places identified for delayed HOME Phase 2 implementation, those deemed to be vulnerable to displacement or undergoing active displacement, are shown in pink and yellow.
