As the end of the year nears and the Texas legislature gears up to convene in the new year, discussions on the issue of affordable housing have already taken center stage, bringing forward concerns and potential solutions that impact residents throughout the state, especially in Austin where lawmakers, experts, and advocates alike have expressed urgency in addressing the ongoing crisis.
During a meeting of the Texas Senate Committee for Local Government,
CBS Austin reported
that the committee members heard testimony on factors contributing to elevated housing costs. This included insights from Daniel Loney, the research director at the Texas A&M Real Estate Center, who underscored that while housing transaction levels are back to pre-COVID rates, the prices remain at an all-time high, with home ownership costs outpacing those of renting, and lawmakers pushing to probe deeper into what’s propping up these costs ahead of the next legislative session.
In light of these testimonies, Committee chair Paul Bettencourt, who played a key role in slashing property taxes in a prior session, appeared determined to take on the housing costs head-on, as he tied housing affordability directly to home affordability.
Simultaneously, in an appearance before the same committee, according to
AARP
, Kathy Green, the Director of State and Federal Strategy for AARP Texas, weighed in on the affordable housing conundrum affecting a substantial segment of older Texans, who wish to stay in their homes as they age yet face fixed-income and savings challenges. She brought to light a host of factors intensifying the housing affordability issue, including land-use regulations, construction costs, and the increasing stronghold of institutional investors.
Green proposed several possible actions, including incentivizing affordable housing construction through reforming state and local zoning and building codes, maximizing investments in subsidized housing, and enacting property tax relief targeted at low- to middle-income homeowners – all promising avenues for mitigating the high costs of housing that refuses to dissipate without legislative intervention.
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