The Questions Begging for Answers, like “These new laws do require affordable housing, don’t they?”
Everyone's talking about more housing and how adding supply will lower prices. But nobody's talking about the elephant in the room—or should we say, the elephants. Plural. There's a whole herd of them.
“Where's the infrastructure?”
Cities can't require traffic studies anymore. Think about that for a second. A developer can drop 200 apartments on a commercial street designed for a handful of office workers, and nobody has to check if the roads can handle it.
No traffic mitigation fees. No intersection improvements. Just dump hundreds of new cars onto streets built for strip malls and pray it works out.
And it's not just roads:
Water systems designed for commercial use, not residential
Sewer lines sized for offices, not apartments
Power grids built for 9-to-5 usage, not 24/7 residential
Schools that have no idea 500 new kids are moving in next door
The law says cities can only require "minimum capacity needed." Minimum. Not adequate. Not safe. Minimum.
“Who actually benefits from all this?”
The politicians say this helps working families. The developers say it creates affordable housing. But here's what they're not saying:
Nothing in these laws requires using affordable housing.
Not. One. Word.
So who really wins? Follow the money:
Commercial property owners sitting on dead assets
Developers who just got a fast pass to profits
Real estate investors who bought early
Politicians who get to claim they "solved" the housing crisis
Who loses? That's the question nobody wants to answer.
“What happens to my neighborhood?”
For decades, Neighborhood Planning has been a hallmark for city zoning. While issues did come up at least there was a sense of wanting the feedback. That changes with SB840. This is by-right zoning so no neighbor input is needed. Now let’s switch to quality of life that in cities usually involves the word “park” as in Parks and Parking.
Dallas is already the second-fastest heating city in America after Phoenix. Now we're eliminating green space requirements. We're maxing out density without parks. We're paving over everything that isn't nailed down.
Historic neighborhoods? Those historic districts are exempt from SB840. For those that might be historic, better file those preservation papers fast. Cultural districts? Hope your landlord isn't tempted by apartment profits. Small businesses that make neighborhoods unique? Their days are numbered.
Houston saw 67% median income increases near downtown from 2000-2015. That's not working families moving in—that's working families getting pushed out.
“Can my city handle this?”
Houston's Planning Department just got hit with a 31% budget cut. The biggest cut of any department. Right when they're about to get slammed with permit applications they must approve.
Cities can't charge impact fees on conversions. Can't require full permit fees. Can't slow-walk approvals. But they still have to inspect everything, process everything, approve everything.
With what money? With what staff?
And the Really Big Question…
Here's what should keep everyone up at night: What happens when you fundamentally transform how cities work, overnight, with no transition plan, no infrastructure funding, and no way to adjust if things go wrong?
Texas is about to find out.
The politicians in Austin made their choice. They chose property rights over community input. Developer profits over neighborhood stability. Speed over planning.
Maybe they're right. Maybe this solves the housing crisis. Maybe prices drop and everyone lives happily ever after.
Or maybe we just lit a fuse on a bomb that's going to blow up Texas cities for a generation.
