Here’s a way Dallas might build more single-family homes

There are a lot of ideas being discussed now to help address the problem of home affordability in Dallas.

One that deserves strong consideration is lowering the minimum-required lot size for the construction of a new home.

The idea isn’t uncontroversial. In its early years of development, Dallas and surrounding cities had such abundant land that larger lots were much easier to afford. Now, the cost of land is a key driver in rising prices. Residents in many established neighborhoods worry that lowering lot sizes could lead to dramatic changes in the places they call home.

We agree that the city must be sensitive of longtime residents’ concerns. But we also think that reducing the amount of land needed to build a home could go a long way toward ensuring that Dallas continues to flourish as a city that is affordable to people at every income level, and especially to the middle class who too often are being priced out of life here.

In December, five Dallas City Council members signed a memo to initiate conversations related to reducing minimum lot sizes and allowing duplexes and quadplexes by right in single-family neighborhoods.

The discussions predictably devolved into chaos because complicated and potentially disruptive solutions were all lumped together. Different zoning and land use changes need to be considered separately. The idea to allow duplexes by right should be put on hold for now, but city officials should seriously explore the pragmatic solution of reducing the minimum lot size.

The minimum lot size varies in Dallas, but it ranges from around 5,000 to 7,500 square feet. Austin’s City Council recently adopted a resolution to reduce minimum lot size from 5,750 to 2,500 square feet. It’s expected that reducing minimum lot sizes allows developers in the market to build more single-family homes. Smaller lots would make the land, and therefore the homes, less expensive.

The move would introduce more housing while still incentivizing home ownership over renting. Lowering the minimum lot size does not mean that larger lots would be taken away; it just means that families who can only afford smaller homes would have options beyond renting.

Reducing minimum lot sizes has been embraced across the political aisle as commonsense policy. The Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank, recently published a report that found that less restrictive municipal regulations around lot sizes would allow the market to work better to close the housing affordability gap. At the state level, Sen. Paul Bettencourt had introduced a bill that would prohibit big Texas cities from mandating lots larger than 1,400 square feet. The city should work with residents now to gauge their interest in this kind of reform, before the state makes a law. City officials could consider piloting reduced lot sizes in certain neighborhoods where residents are open to more density.

For Dallas to remain the vibrant city it has always been, residents and city officials will have to come together and consider how to use our land most effectively. Reducing the minimum lot size could be that measured solution to support younger residents without impacting long-time homeowners.

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