For the past five years, the city of Austin has been working on a revised land-use ordinance called CodeNext. The ordinance has grown to 1,500 pages and is attracting a great deal of controversy. Opponents have organized a petition drive to submit the plan to voters. One group opposed to the the new ordinance, Community…
A recent editorial in the Dallas Morning News states that The idea of the American Dream is that anyone can start from the bottom and work their way up by their own means. Unfortunately, that isn’t happening for everyone. The editorial goes on to list five things that prove that a strong work ethic isn’t…
In recent years, we have repeatedly been told that Texas is facing an affordable housing crisis. In June 2017, the Texas Tribune reported that “more than 2 million urban Texan households, most of them renters, are considered financially burdened by housing costs because they spend 30 percent or more of their income on housing — and…
In November, Austin City Council approved the Family Homestead Initiative. According to the Austin Monitor, Council Member Delia Garza, who sponsored the measure, said she wants to create a separate permitting process for homeowners because they shouldn’t have to contend with the same regulations as large developers. Reducing regulations is always a good thing and…