Houston Lot Size Reforms Yield Positive Results

A new study from the University of Texas at Austin, sponsored by The Pew Charitable Trusts, analyzes how reducing minimum lot size requirements in Houston, Texas impacted the city’s housing stock.

As a brief from Pew explains, “Rules that allow only detached houses on large lots are often at the center of debates about zoning, and this study helps to shed light on how land-use reform affects urban residential neighborhoods.”

The study’s findings “suggest that SF2TH conversions helped to increase the number of available homes—and therefore households—in high-demand areas without driving out existing residents, belying a claim commonly made by opponents of land-use reform that new development in dense urban communities would lead to gentrification.”

Houston reduced its lot size requirement from 5,000 square feet to 3,500 square feet in 1998, expanding that ordinance to almost the entire city in 2013, leading to a rise in the construction of smaller, more affordable town houses.

The study concludes that “Land-use reforms can spur housing development” and “often have only incremental impacts on the physical character of residential neighborhoods.” Furthermore, in Houston, “Adding more housing did not displace residents.” The study found that “Ultimately, allowing enough housing for everyone enabled affordability and reduced displacement pressures.”