by Daryl Slusher | Apr 14, 2025 | City Council 2025, Land Development Code/Zoning
“I can tell you for certain that Austin, Texas is in the vanguard of the national housing discussion and cities all over this country right now have been looking to us for ideas about how they address their own affordability challenges. Boston, Philadelphia, Dallas,...
by Daryl Slusher | Feb 6, 2025 | Land Development Code/Zoning
Austin ended 2024 making national news for drops in the price of housing. For instance, in an otherwise gloomy (but realistic) December 4 report on the national housing situation, NPR reporter Jennifer Ludden cited Austin as her one positive example: After the host...
by Daryl Slusher | May 30, 2024 | City Council 2023, Land Development Code/Zoning, Leslie Pool HOME proposal
One unreported element of the May 16 hearing on HOME 2 is that Council Members José Velasquez and Natasha Harper Madison were not present at the meeting. They joined remotely, but blocked their cameras except when discussing votes. So people in the Council Chamber and...
by Daryl Slusher | May 30, 2024 | City Council 2024, Land Development Code/Zoning, Leslie Pool HOME proposal
In yesterday’s post we partially reviewed the May 16 public hearing and Council vote on the HOME 2 initiative and related issues. We also examined the links from that initiative to the upcoming application for light rail funds from the federal government. Today we...
by Daryl Slusher | May 29, 2024 | City Council 2024, Land Development Code/Zoning
If the long time battle over the City of Austin’s Land Development Code were a television series, May 16, 2024 would be a season ending episode and possibly the end of the series. It would now be that period where fans are left to wonder whether there will be an...
by Daryl Slusher | May 14, 2024 | City Council 2024, Land Development Code/Zoning, Leslie Pool HOME proposal
Thursday May 16 is going to be an historic day at the Austin City Council. A nine-vote Council super majority is poised to pass changes to the Land Development Code (LDC) that will transform the face and character of Austin and its neighborhoods. At the Austin...
by Daryl Slusher | Dec 19, 2023 | City Council 2023, Land Development Code/Zoning, Leslie Pool HOME proposal
As folks have probably heard, the Austin City Council passed the HOME (Home Options for Middle-Income Empowerment) initiative on a 9-2 vote at the end of the December 7 eleven hour plus public hearing on the matter. Council Members Alison Alter and Mackenzie Kelly...
by Daryl Slusher | Dec 6, 2023 | City Council 2023, Land Development Code/Zoning, Leslie Pool HOME proposal
I attended Tuesday’s City Hall press conference hosted by Council Members Leslie Pool and Chito Vela, featuring a lineup of Pool’s HOME (Home Options for Middle-Income Empowerment) initiative supporters. I have to say that what they were promising sounded pretty...
by Daryl Slusher | Dec 4, 2023 | City Council 2023, Land Development Code/Zoning, Leslie Pool HOME proposal
Who knew? Council Member Ryan Alter is a developer; or at least he was until very recently. I just learned that this weekend. I was a little late to the news. The answer to my question — “who knew” — is Ken Martin of the Austin Bulldog. Martin reported the...
by Daryl Slusher | Nov 27, 2023 | City Council 2023, Land Development Code/Zoning, Leslie Pool HOME proposal
“Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me.” F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Rich Boy, 1926 I was reluctant to quote that F. Scott Fitzgerald line because I don’t like statements that attribute the same qualities to any group of individuals, or...
