Houston is just second-to-last in line in Texas to face the affordability crisis (followed by San Antonio) because they have the highest capacity automobile infrastructure, but it's already regularly ranked with the worst traffic in the United States.
While I agree that Houston does a lot of things right, especially just literally allowing density, I do not think they would survive an influx of folks while maintaining affordability any better than Austin has.
Considering that Houston is significantly bigger than Austin--metro area of 6.6 million vs 2.2 million--one could argue it _is_ handling a significant influx of people better than Austin.
Right... agreed, but what? Are you not following the argument? Austin is on the exact same trajectory as the West Coast. It's just about 10-15 years behind.
No, it isn’t, because Austin allows building to keep up with demand. The policy failures of West Coast states aren’t a law of nature; they’re policy failures.
>No, it isn’t, because Austin allows building to keep up with demand. The policy failures of West Coast states aren’t a law of nature; they’re policy failures.
The policy of building out is a law of nature, simply because it is impractical and unaffordable to upgrade the transportation infrastructure. The only real development you're getting in Austin is vertical construction downtown (which is net good for affordability), and then you're filling in the remaining wilderness east of Austin (Manor, Webberville, and the area out to Bastrop).
That's the last remaining unconsumed land that is viable for commuting, as the highways are already overcapacity out to Leander, Georgetown, Buda, and nearly Dripping Springs along the Mopac and 35 corridors.
If Austin starts building multi-family homes in existing SFH neighborhoods, then more power to them.
https://abc13.com/floodplain-housing-building-houston-flood/...
Houston is just second-to-last in line in Texas to face the affordability crisis (followed by San Antonio) because they have the highest capacity automobile infrastructure, but it's already regularly ranked with the worst traffic in the United States.
While I agree that Houston does a lot of things right, especially just literally allowing density, I do not think they would survive an influx of folks while maintaining affordability any better than Austin has.