Austin, TX
Housing panelists examine what's worked in Austin, and across Texas – Austin Monitor
Photo by city of Austin
At a South by Southwest panel discussion last week on housing policies in Texas, City Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison shared possible new components of the “agrihood” housing-plus-agriculture approach she championed last year.
While sharing her views on steps the city has taken in recent years to address affordability concerns around housing, Harper-Madison talked about the possibility of allowing a wide-open “rogue zoning” classification to housing around small agricultural parcels. From prefabricated housing and trailers to multifamily projects, she said the removal of most regulations on housing types would make the projects attractive to builders who want to do business in Austin’s healthy real estate market.
“You can have trailers, you can have manufactured homes, you can have multifamily, you can have single-family, whatever you want. Just rogue zoning in this particular area, this designated area, to see how it works,” she said during the panel discussion organized by Realtor.com. “For no other reason than because we are so deeply invested in our innovative tendencies and because some of our capital is in our humans. Why don’t we try it and pilot it and see if it works?”
During the event, Harper-Madison discussed another possible policy she’d like to enact before her term expires: creating an onboarding program for new Council members, including a pre-hired temporary staff so the newly elected leaders can become more effective at land use and other policy requirements more quickly. Learning how to operate those “levers of power” faster, she said, would make it easier to enact change that is needed for the city to keep up with growth and demands coming from all sides.
Panelist Felicity Maxwell, executive director of Texans for Housing, said officials across Texas and at the state level are looking at how to emulate some of Austin’s recent actions related to zoning, including the Affordability Unlocked initiative, which was intended to remove many of the bureaucratic steps that made affordable housing too expensive to pursue profitably.
“The idea was essentially that we should loosen all the regulations that we normally have for housing projects related to affordable housing, and that just makes common sense,” she said. “If you’re doing affordable housing at a certain percentage, you get the constraints that we would normally put on some of these projects are lifted. That move was related to parking and setbacks and a number of things so we could also use our affordable housing bond dollars more efficiently. We were so lucky … our Council as well as all the community members really support affordable housing and have twice gone out for big bonds and supported that development.”
Harper-Madison said the gradual steps the city has taken around housing and zoning requirements in the aftermath of the abandoned CodeNEXT overhaul have been effective, even if it took the city far too long to revise its building code.
“What we did was we got creative, and the creativity was piecemealing Land Development Code changes that would allow for more development in the city in a way that transcended political parties,” she said. “Austin is one of the most economically segregated cities in the country. It transcended economics. It just makes sense the way that we’re doing things currently. I’d say we got a long way to go, but we’re moving in the direction of having the general public be able to speak the same language.”
Panelist Sara Bronin, president and CEO of the National Zoning Atlas, said Austin’s substantial reduction in minimum lot sizes to encourage infill development is supported by her organization’s analysis of most zoning policies and building codes across the country.
“If you don’t have a minimum lot size requirement in your zoning code or if you have a very small, let’s say a quarter acre or smaller, that’s a good thing because what it says is that you can build a house in a small lot. That’s a good thing for affordability. So overall in Texas, we do see a different approach to land use regulation,” she said.
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KERRVILLE, Texas (KXAN) — The City of Kerrville issued a shelter-in-place Thursday morning, with heavy rain causing reported evacuations early Thursday morning. A Flash Flood Warning is currently in place for Kerr County as the Guadalupe River continues to rise.
Around 5:30 a.m., the National Weather Service said a “large and deadly flood wave is moving down” the Guadalupe River.
KXAN First Warning Weather Meteorologist Kristen Currie said approximately 11 inches of rain have fallen northwest of Kerr County since 10 p.m. on Wednesday. The Guadalupe River is expected to reach major flood stage in multiple areas.
Kerr County PIO Lisa Walter said “there have been multiple swift water rescues and evacuations.” Officials emphasized not to drive through flooded streets and to turn around if water covers the roadway.
Evacuations were underway in multiple areas, according to the county, including:
- Goat Creek
- Arcadia Loop
- Lowery/Guadalupe area
- Junction Highway low-water crossings
- Other low-lying neighborhoods
Emergency shelters are open at Impact Church (Goat Creek evacuation point), Calvary Temple Church and City West Church for people in West Kerr County, the county said.
Here are the latest headlines:
Live updates
7:03 a.m.: KXAN’s Kevin Baskar is in Gillespie County providing updates on the latest flood conditions in the area. Watch his update below.
6:37 a.m.: Kerr County officials emphasized not to drive through flooded streets and to turn around if water covers the roadway.
Evacuations were underway in multiple areas, according to the county, including:
- Goat Creek
- Arcadia Loop
- Lowery/Guadalupe area
- Junction Highway low-water crossings
- Other low-lying neighborhoods
Emergency shelters are open at Impact Church (Goat Creek evacuation point), Calvary Temple Church and City West Church for people in West Kerr County, the county said.
6:27 a.m.: Video shows emergency crews hauling boats and rescue equipment through Kerrville.
6:15 a.m. NewsNation correspondent Xavier Walton and his photographer captured a structure being swept up in river water and crashing into a Kerrville bridge. The structure appears to be some sort of shipping container, pushing against the bridge.
Watch the video below:
6:08 a.m.: Kerr County PIO Lisa Walter confirms “there have been multiple swift water rescues and evacuations.”
6:02 a.m.: The Guadalupe River at Center Point is expected to crest at 35 feet, which is the same crest as July 4, 2025.
5:57 a.m.: The National Weather Service said “a large deadly flood wave” is moving down the Guadalupe River.
5:49 a.m.: The Comfort Volunteer Fire Department said it has units in Kerrville and Centerpoint alerting people along the Guadalupe River. They’re helping Kerr County with evacuations along Highway 27 between Comfort and Centerpoint. They said all VFD personnel are OK.
5:30 a.m.: The Kerr County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post that it’s received reports of “street flooding in Ingram, and it’s likely many roads and city streets are flooded as well.”
AUSTIN (KXAN) — As flood threats continue across parts of South Central Texas, Austin Pets Alive! has activated emergency response efforts to support animal shelters affected by the inclement weather.
In a social media post, APA! wrote, “We began offering aid last night, working to secure fosters for 10 dogs in the Castroville shelter, an open-air shelter that sits at the bottom of a valley.”
APA! said the situation escalated overnight with additional shelters reporting flooding. One shelter confirmed that floodwaters reached its facility, APA! added.
Communities overwhelmed due to weather include Uvalde, Castroville and Sabinal.
The nonprofit is asking the Austin community to foster, adopt or donate to free up capacity for animals displaced by the disaster. APA! needs to clear out its facilities to assist the animals in need of shelter.
Here are ways you can help:
- Adopt: APA! is offering a “Name Your Own Adoption Fee” on all animals.
- Foster: The shelter is seeking foster homes for a minimum of three weeks.
- Donate: Proceeds will fund vans and response teams setting up a staging and triage center at the heart of the disaster zone, along with an expanded stockpile of preventatives, PPE and additional supplies.
If you would like to donate, click here.
AUSTIN, Texas — With heavy rain expected across parts of Central Texas this week and flooding top of mind, the city of Austin is proposing to put more money toward flood mitigation improvements in next year’s budget.
The proposal would invest in new flood infrastructure, add staff, and help move flood mitigation projects forward, according to city leaders. Austin City Councilmember Ryan Alter said the investments are aimed at keeping the city prepared for future flooding.
Residents who live near waterways say they have seen how quickly conditions can change. David Haderspeck, who lives near Shoal Creek, said the creek “fills up pretty fast” and “gets a lot higher than you’d expect.” He said he has watched the water rise dramatically after rain.
“I’ve seen it come up probably 10 to 15 feet to the ordinary high-water mark,” he said.
This week, parts of Central Texas, including the Hill Country, are expected to get heavy downpours. While Austin is not expecting the same impacts as parts of the Hill Country, leaders said the city is using this year’s budget planning to continue investing in flood safety.
Alter said the city has the expertise to address flooding risks but needs to follow through on projects.
ALSO| Central Texas urged to prepare as heavy rainfall sits in forecast over next two days
“We have the experts. We just have to put the plans into practice, and that’s what we’re doing in this budget,” he said.
Under the budget proposal, the city would provide about $134.5 million for the Drainage Utility Fund, which helps pay for flood mitigation, drainage infrastructure and watershed protection efforts.
Alter said the proposal would shift more of the funding balance toward building new infrastructure.
“What we’re going to do is shift that balance a little bit more to building new infrastructure so that when we do have large flooding events, we’ve got that infrastructure in place to keep people safe,” he said.
The proposal also adds staff and invests in both new and existing flood mitigation projects across the city.
Asked whether the proposed investments would be enough moving forward, Alter said, “I do…I think we’re doing the right thing and just making sure that our residents have the infrastructure to stay safe.”
Alter said heavy rain cannot be prevented, but the city’s goal is to have infrastructure in place to help keep people safe when it happens.
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