Tag Archive for: Livable Places

Would Livable Places Initiative Really Make Housing More Affordable?

Third in a Series on the City of Houston Planning Commission’s Livable Places Initiative

In the first two posts in this series, I discussed how the Houston Planning Commission’s Livable Places Initiative had the potential to:

Despite well intentioned efforts to help limit the growth of impervious cover, the Commission has not conducted a flood study showing the cumulative impact of its recommendations.

Nor does it have any concrete recommendations guaranteed to make housing more affordable – its primary goal.

Effects on Affordability Uncertain

Most of the ordinance changes would let people build more housing in any given area. Changes would allow:

  • More compact development and small-scale, multi-unit housing
  • On less land
  • With fewer parking spots
  • And with narrower driveways. 
Housing variations encouraged by Livable Places increase housing density and impervious cover.

Those recommendations have the potential to reduce redevelopment costs and therefore exert downward pressure on housing prices. Land represents a significant percentage of those housing prices. Also, it takes less labor and fewer materials to build a 1,000 square-foot home than it does a 2,000 square-foot home. But…

How much of those savings will buyers receive and how much will developers pocket? 

Higher density also lets more people share the cost of infrastructure, such as streets and storm sewers. That theoretically exerts downward pressure on prices, too.

But higher runoff associated with more impervious cover could exceed the capacity of those storm drains and ditches. And that could lead to increases in drainage fees.

During the public comment period after the last Planning Commission meeting, one individual referenced outrageous prices for densely packed, small homes in the Heights (see below). He made the point that nothing in the regulations guarantees more affordable housing.

Many of the targeted inner-city neighborhoods already complain about flooding and blame it on historical discrimination. Any increase in impervious cover could make such neighborhoods less livable, not more.

Neither do new regulations do anything to discourage people from subdividing flood-prone lots near channels or streams. That could make future buyouts even more expensive. We’ve already spent billions of dollars mitigating flooding in these areas.

Houston Already Has More Affordable Homes and People Still Move Out

The Planning Commission is filled with bright, intelligent, hard-working people. But they have limited tools at their disposal. While they may be able to make housing more affordable, they have no tools to fight crime, flooding, or failing schools.

Houston already has some of the most affordable housing in the region. Yet people still move out of the City to buy higher priced homes. 

While population in the region is increasing, population in the City of Houston has decreased since the 2020 census. 

Inverted Housing Prices, Demand

Usually, higher prices limit demand and lower prices increase it. But that isn’t happening in the Houston region.

According to the Census Bureau, the average house price in:

  • Houston = $200,000
  • Conroe = $223,300
  • Katy = $290,200
  • Sugar Land = $334,000. 

Houston already has the lowest housing prices!

If people were looking purely for more affordable housing, you would expect Houston’s population to increase, not decrease. 

But what do the high-growth areas have in common? They tend to be suburban with single-family homes that offer yards; a safe environment to raise kids; good schools; easy access to shopping and ample parking.

Perhaps the Planning Department needs to take a broader look at what attracts people and build that into its Livable Places Initiative.

Aerial Photo taken in 2022 north of Houston’s downtown.

In the picture above, note how some blocks have more green space than rooftops, others are entirely covered by rooftops.

Redevelopment under the new rules will bring more of the latter, not the former.

Saving the Green

Denser housing also means fewer trees. According to the EPA, “Trees are increasingly recognized for their importance in managing runoff.”

  • Leaf canopies help reduce erosion caused by falling rain.
  • Rain water can land and evaporate from more surface area.
  • Roots take up water and help create conditions in the soil that promote infiltration.
  • Trees stabilize soil and help regulate streamflow by reducing the velocity of water entering streams.

Yes, trees play a vital role in reducing flooding.

Planning Department staff are fond of saying that higher density housing in Houston will help prevent the clearcutting of forests in outlying areas and, thus, reduce flooding. “Build more homes where the infrastructure already exists,” they argue. 

There is, no doubt, some truth to that – especially on a macro level. Conservation and preservation make valuable flood-fighting tools. But…

Saving trees in one watershed won’t reduce flooding in another.

We need to practice conservation and preservation everywhere – to the extent possible – especially where people are flooding – in Houston.

YIMBY vs. NIMBY

Still, people need homes. And the cost of housing has clearly priced some people out of the housing market. According to the Census Bureau, a generational divide underlies the pricing divide. The housing shortage is dire in many metropolitan areas.

Older baby-boomers may abhor the type of development seen above. They’re literally saying NIMBY (Not in My Backyard!) to garage apartments, infill development and other types of housing encouraged by Livable Places.

But a younger group of millennials who find themselves priced out of the housing market are saying YIMBY (Yes in My Backyard).

Across the nation, renters, are especially cost burdened. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), says anyone who spends more than 30 percent of their income on housing is cost-burdened. Nationally, an estimated 40 percent of rental households and 21.3 percent of households with a mortgage met this threshold in 2018 – when Houston was revising building codes to help prevent another Hurricane-Harvey-type scourge.

One Crisis Vs. Another Crisis

Houston has averaged 3-5 flooding crises, on average, every decade for more than a hundred years. We saw eight in the last decade alone.

For a high resolution PDF, click here. Source: Harris County Flood Control District.

Now we seem to be solving a housing crisis with little regard for the predictable flooding crises we know will strike us. How soon we forget!

City Council Will Vote on Wednesday

City Council will vote on the “Livable Places” recommendations on Wednesday, 6/21/23. The Planning Commission website explains how you can sign up to speak.

ReduceFlooding.com recommends that City Council does NOT approve “Livable Places” recommendations until any potential impact on flooding is known and residents can decide whether the potential increased risk is worth any benefits developers may gain.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 6/18/23

2119 Days since Hurricane Harvey

The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.

Houston Planning Commission’s “Livable Places” Initiative Could Increase Flooding

Second in a series on the Houston Planning Commission’s Livable Places Initiative

“Livable Places” is a new initiative by the City of Houston Planning Commission designed to increase housing affordability and equity while increasing the walkability of neighborhoods.

To achieve these goals, the Commission is recommending new rules that govern development, platting and parking. They would also result in greater housing density especially in inner city neighborhoods. However, they affect the entire city.

Moreover, greater density usually comes at the expense of more impervious cover, which contributes to flooding. Despite several attempts to minimize the growth of impervious cover, the Planning Commission has not studied what the aggregate impact could be.

City Council will consider approval of the recommendations on Wednesday, 6/21/23. This Planning Commission website explains how you can sign up to speak.

ReduceFlooding.com recommends that City Council does NOT approve “Livable Places” recommendations until any potential impact on flooding is known and residents can decide whether the potential increased risk is worth any benefits developers may gain.

Proposed Changes

Specifically, ordinance changes to Chapters 42 and 26 of the City Code would allow:

  • Second Dwelling Unit: Lets this housing type be larger with parking based on the unit size. Think of apartments over garages or small backyard homes. Only available where deed restrictions do not prohibit their construction. 
  • Multi-Unit Residential: Brings back this affordable housing type which is small scale 3–8-unit apartments with a height restriction to fit better within neighborhoods.
  • Courtyard Style Development: Promotes this housing type where lots are located around a common courtyard, and do not require street frontage. The proposal includes green space requirement per lot, parking could be separate from the units and height restriction so that homes are at neighborhood scale.
  • Narrow Lot Development: Incentivizes this housing type where lots take rear access or shared access to reduce the number of times pedestrians come in potential conflict with automobiles. In addition, these regulations help the redevelopment be more walkable by reducing the driveway widths and preventing vehicles from hanging into the sidewalk.
  • Market Based Parking: For all the four residential development types mentioned above, the proposal is to allow market-based parking in proximity where other transportation options exist and make housing affordable. This means the City will not have a minimum parking requirement, and the property owner can provide parking based on market needs.

Impervious-Cover Impact Unknown

The recommended changes encourage greater density by allowing subdivision of lots. That generally means more rooftops and concrete per acre. Rooftops and concrete are called impervious cover because they do not let stormwater soak into the ground.

Here are the proposed changes to ordinances. They mention impervious cover only once – in the context of courtyard development. And that mention says, courtyards “may be a mix of impervious or pervious material…” They specify no percentages.

Neither do they mention pier-and-beam foundations that could elevate new buildings above flood risk without reducing floodplain storage. Any reduction in the volume of floodplain storage could affect the flood risk of existing homes.

Several department spokespeople pointed out, however, that any development would have a 65% cap on impervious cover. Above that, developers would have to build stormwater detention basins. But the wording of that requirement is reportedly being reconsidered at this time by the Public Works Department.

The Planning Commission did not conduct a comprehensive engineering study to estimate any increase or decrease in impervious cover associated with the recommended changes. That raises the question: 

Will impervious cover increase, decrease or stay the same? 

The City knows how much impervious cover we have now because the City charges us a Drainage Fee for it. And even though the City cannot predict which types of housing developers will want to build and in what quantities, it could easily calculate the increase or decrease for representative scenarios and make guesstimates.

But we may not know a definitive answer for decades until the impact of these recommendations become visible on the ground or during the next large flood.

Fortunately, the Planning Commission has recommended several changes that may help offset increases in density. They include, but are not limited to:

  • Elimination of some mandatory parking requirements in neighborhoods where car ownership is low and access to public transportation is high. 
  • Making greater use of alleys to preserve green space in public right of way at the front of lots.
  • Allowing shared driveways that are narrower than two individual driveways.

Density, Impervious Cover and Drainage Fees

Back in 2010, the City taught us that impervious cover was bad. The City even created a fee to discourage it called the Drainage Fee. Since then, the City has collected 3.2 cents per square foot of impervious surface from each home and business owner with curb and gutter drainage in the City. Those with street ditches pay a slightly lower rate. The total collected to date is reportedly approaching $1.3 billion. 

Aerial Photo taken in 2022 north of Houston’s downtown.

The proposed changes could make neighborhoods like the one above even denser and tax the capacity of storm sewers/roadside ditches even more. Many of the ditches are already blocked and in serious need of restoration.

street flooding
Adding more homes per acre in areas with drainage that’s already poor could increase flood risk for existing residents.

More Resources

To learn more about the Planning Commission’s Livable Places initiative and what the Commission believes to be the benefits, visit these resources.

Livable Places Housing Recommendations FAQ 6-16-2023
Proposed Draft Ordinances (C42 and C26)
Planning Commission changes as part of the action.
Proposed Market-Based Parking map for Housing Recommendations
Summary of Amendments Flyer in English or Spanish *Updated
Streetscape exhibit for small lots *Updated
Letters received about Housing Amendments *Updated
Comments matrix.

Livable Places does have the potential to provide some benefits to some market segments. So to make sure we get this right, I encourage comment from members of the planning commission, local governments, affected citizens, and flood experts. To submit a guest editorial, reach out to me through the Contact page of this website.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 6/16/2023

2117 Days since Hurricane Harvey

The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.

Livable Places Initiative Would Create Higher Density in Flood-Prone Areas

First in a series on the Houston Planning Commission’s Livable Places Initiative, and updated on 6/18/2023

On 6/8/23, the City of Houston Planning Commission approved an initiative called Livable Places that it has worked on since early 2020.

Goals include creating a more affordable, walkable and equitable City.

Planning Commission Website

All laudable goals! However, the goals do not include reducing flood risk. Both the City and Harris County agreed to do that after Hurricane Harvey.

But the changes recommended in the Livable Places initiative could actually put more people in harm’s way during the next big flood.

Encouraging Higher Density in Flood-Prone Areas

They would do that by encouraging more housing density – and potentially more impervious cover – in neighborhoods already prone to flooding.

While regulation changes would apply to the whole city, they would primarily increase housing density in “public-transit-rich” areas inside the Beltway. There, the new regs would even let developers avoid building parking so they could increase housing density more.

Compare the three maps below. The first shows flood damage in all storms from 1999 to the month before Hurricane Harvey.

From a 2018 Rebuild Houston presentation. Note the preponderance of damage inside the Beltway.

The second shows damage during Hurricane Harvey.

From 2019 HCFCD Federal Briefing. Again, note the preponderance of damage inside the Beltway.

Compare those maps to this one created by the Planning Department for the Livable Places Initiative. It shows transit-rich areas where parking requirements would be optional for developers, allowing even more housing density – inside the Beltway.

Screen capture from the Livable Places presentation to the Planning Commission on 6/8/23.

Preamble to City Council Resolution Clarifies Targeted Area

If that weren’t clear enough, the preamble to the ordinance changes proposed by the planning department clarifies the purpose(s) of the new regulations. Among other things, they strive to:

  • Encourage more compact development patterns and small-scale, multi-unit housing options
  • Make better use of land closer to existing infrastructure
  • Promote responsible, affordable housing development “within the inner city.”

The graphic below shows the housing types that Livable Places will encourage. Each involves putting more people on any given lot, acre, or square mile.

Screen capture from presentation to Planning Commission on 6/8/23

In summary, the Planning Commission hopes to increase density in areas with the worst history of flooding in Harris County – in the name of equity. And they do that even as Harris County struggles to mitigate flooding in those same areas – also in the name of equity.

My head is spinning. Where is Daniel Webster when you need him!

Learn More During “Livable-Places” Week

The City Council still needs to adopt these regulations before they become effective. The Planning Commission hopes to bring them before Council later this month or early next. Before then, I will cover:

  • More details of the plan and attempts to offset increases in impervious cover
  • The unknown, cumulative impact of recommended changes on impervious cover
  • The City’s Drainage Fee which penalizes impervious cover by increasing residents water bills
  • Whether proposed changes will really make housing more affordable
  • Migration patterns within the city and region, and the demographic changes affecting them.

Livable Places does have the potential to provide some benefits to some market segments. So to make sure we get this right, I encourage comment from members of the planning commission, local governments, affected citizens, and flood experts. To submit a guest editorial, reach out to me through the Contact page of this website.

Posted by Bob Rehak 6/13/2023 and updated on 6/16/23 with minor changes to the approved regulations.

2114 Days since Hurricane Harvey

The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.