Austin hosts community workshops for housing development under HOME policies

The city is hosting informational sessions this month about development under Home Ownership for Middle-income Empowerment, or HOME, policies allowing for more housing units and residences on smaller lots in Austin neighborhoods.

What's happening

The Development Services Department, or DSD, is offering the educational sessions as part of its new DSD Info Series that started this spring. The department's "Building Under HOME" virtual meetings will cover both phases of the housing policy initiative, including:

• Two- and three-unit development under HOME Phase 1: April 15 at 11 a.m., virtual registration
• Tiny home development under HOME: April 22 at 11 a.m., virtual registration
• Single-family development on small lots under HOME Phase 2: April 29 at 11 a.m., virtual registration

Also this month, City Council will consider adjusting HOME regulations meant to encourage the preservation of existing housing if additional units are being added. Officials could vote on that change April 24.

The context

City Council approved HOME Phase 1, allowing multiple housing units in residential areas, and HOME Phase 2, slashing the amount of land needed to build single-family homes, in 2023 and 2024.

In just over a year, DSD has received hundreds of applications to build under HOME, and the first of more than 750 new housing units allowed by the policies has been completed. The city is also reporting on HOME's impacts since the first phase went into effect last February; a one-year progress report is currently in the works, according to DSD.

Alongside the development policies, city officials have also sought to make the new housing options more accessible to lower- and middle-income homeowners. Several recommendations on financial assistance and other initiatives from an interdepartmental city task force were still being finalized as of March, according to DSD.

Separately, a third-party consultant is studying the potential for an "equity overlay" limiting HOME's effects in areas vulnerable to displacement. That work is set to be completed this summer.

More information on HOME is available from the city online.