Nearly a year after the policy went into effect, Austin released a report on the early impacts of the Home Ownership for Middle-income Empowerment, or HOME, initiative.

The big picture

City Council passed the first phase of HOME—allowing up to three housing units on single-family properties across Austin—last December. The land-use update officially went into effect in February, and hundreds of applications for construction under the new rules have since been filed citywide.

As the first of those projects are now reaching completion and being sold, the Development Services Department released a six-month report on HOME covering activity under the policies from Feb. 5-Aug. 7. It's the first of many required reviews of HOME that council mandated when passing the program; DSD plans to kick off a more extensive one-year review in February.

The details

Through HOME Phase 1's first six months, nearly 160 applications for projects of various sizes were submitted to the city with about 100 approved in that same time. Altogether, those applications included 300 potential new housing units.

Despite HOME's new three-unit allowance, the majority of requested permits were for projects with two units. No tiny home applications were submitted as of early August.One topic of debate during HOME's initial approval was the program's potential to spur more residential teardowns, rather than new construction or additions. To encourage builders to keep older existing housing in place, the policy features a "preservation bonus" granting slightly more building square footage if portions of original structures are maintained in a HOME project.

DSD found just two applications used that bonus from February to early August, both in East or Northeast Austin. Staff also found that HOME didn't spark a surge in residential demolitions, with slightly fewer teardown applications tracked since HOME went into effect than in the prior six months.

Supporters of the HOME updates promoted the development code changes as updates that could lead to a wider variety of housing types in Austin, and smaller options more affordable for lower- and middle-income buyers.

With just six months of data and few—if any—projects complete in that time, the city wasn't able to report on HOME's effects on housing affordability as of mid-2024. Going forward, DSD staff plan to coordinate with the Austin Board of Realtors, Travis Central Appraisal District and other local sources for more data on home sales prices by housing type.

What's next

The first annual report on HOME coming early next year will cover more data than the preliminary six-month review. It'll also account for the early usage of HOME Phase 2, which now allows housing construction on much smaller lots than previously permitted.

Additional information coming in next year's report includes:

• Geographic breakdowns of HOME projects by council district and in relation to transit routes
• Demographic and housing trends tied to the potential displacement of minority communities
• Infrastructure impacts, such as water drainage and power use
• Environmental impacts from new construction on tree canopy coverage and impervious cover, or surfaces like driveways that can't absorb rainwater
• Details on HOME's effects in relation to the city's climate, mobility, housing and water resource plans