However, ever since the capital was discovered by the world's largest technology companies and their well-paid employees, it has become one of the least affordable cities in the country. Neighborhoods have become gentrified and housing prices and rents have skyrocketed as supply has struggled to keep up. One morning in late August, dozens of demonstrators gathered on the steps of the civil and family courts in Travis County, in downtown Austin, to protest a lawsuit filed by a group of homeowners seeking to end a popular affordable housing program and other housing initiatives. Housing costs in the Austin area rose dramatically over the past decade as the region transformed into a major technology hub and companies such as Apple, Google and Oracle increased their presence in the city.
Jon Kniss, a photographer from Nashville, took desperate steps to find a home when he moved to Austin last year. The Austin-Round Rock region was consistently among the country's most active markets for housing construction during the pandemic years, according to A&M. Now, according to a forecast prepared by Zillow, a real estate company that tracks affordability, the Austin metropolitan area is on track to become the least affordable major metropolitan region for homebuyers outside of California before the end of the year. A decade ago, Austin, the capital of Texas often considered a liberal oasis in an unconditionally conservative state, was one one of the most affordable places to live.
Greg Casar, a Democrat from Austin who authored the Affordability Unlocked proposal when he served on the Austin City Council, said the program was approved unanimously. The city has a shortfall of nearly 152,000 homes considered affordable enough for two-person, middle-income households. A recent report from the Austin Board of Realtors shows a shortage that is even more drastic for four-member families with that income level. Despite the virtues of the program, the effort to block it and other initiatives is aimed at ensuring that the city does not violate the rights of homeowners, said Fred Lewis, an Austin ethics lawyer, one of the landowners who sued the city.
According to a recent study commissioned by the city, more than half of the cost of a single-family home in Austin comes from landIt took Austin homebuilder Scott Turner three years to build four homes on about a quarter of an acre in the South Manchaca neighborhood. Attorneys for the city of Austin argued that neither law applies when a city revises its land development code. After witnessing the gentrification of East Austin over the past decade, some fear that paving the way for the construction of more housing will accelerate that process in the city's low-income neighborhoods and expel the black and Latino residents who live there. However, as musicians, teachers, police officers, and firefighters struggle to find affordable housing within city limits, Austin's housing crisis is increasingly viewed as existential.
On top of that, Austin requires that most single-family homes be located on at least 5,750 square feet of land, a restriction known as minimum lot size that research has linked to rising home prices.
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