For decades, Texas’ stock of low-cost housing served as one of the state’s most important economic advantages, attracting families, workers and businesses from across the country. But as population growth surged — driven by more than 1,500 new arrivals each day — housing supply failed to keep pace.
Since 2019, median home prices have risen 40%, far outstripping income growth and putting homeownership out of reach for many Texans. While demand has remained strong, the underlying problem is a shortage of homes: Texas needs an estimated 320,000 additional units to meet current demand.
In 2023, Texas 2036 began a deeper investigation into the roots of the housing crisis, with a focus on regulatory and policy barriers to increasing housing supply. This investigation resulted in the report, Housing Affordability in Texas: An Overview. Through that work, it became increasingly clear that many of the obstacles preventing new housing construction, including an array of housing types desired by the market but not in supply, were rooted in outdated regulatory barriers.
During the interim, we elevated the conversation through research, coalition-building and stakeholder convenings aimed at deepening understanding of how land use reforms can unlock supply, improve affordability, and preserve Texas’ economic competitiveness, thus enabling Texas to be the best place to live, work, and raise a family.
That work helped lay the groundwork for a pro-housing breakthrough during the 2025 session. This year, the Legislature advanced a slate of reforms designed to remove red tape, diversify the housing stock, and enhance property rights. Work this session opened the door to more housing of all kinds, built more quickly and at lower cost.
Key among these reforms was the end of the so-called “tyrant’s veto” — a century-old provision of state law that allowed a small number of neighbors to block new housing through notice-and-protest provisions. This reform improves the predictability of the zoning process for builders while empowering city councils to better meet the needs of their communities.
To further unlock supply, the Legislature also acted to ease development restrictions that artificially limit the types of housing that can be built by authorizing cities to approve smaller lot sizes in new single-family neighborhoods — reducing land costs and supporting both entry-level homeownership and later-in-life homes. This combination can enable neighborhoods for all seasons of life, helping families to sustain and strengthen their bonds through life’s stages.
Additional legislation enabled residential construction in commercial, office and warehouse zones and facilitated office-to-residential conversions, reducing regulatory friction and repurposing underused space for housing.
Lawmakers also allowed cities to approve single-stair buildings up to six stories — a housing type common in much of the world that promotes affordability through efficient design. Recognizing the need for more diversity in housing stock, the Legislature expanded the use of manufactured homes by requiring municipalities to allow their installation in at least one area of the city while streamlining and modernizing state definitions to reflect advances in manufactured housing technology.
To expand rental availability in high-demand markets, lawmakers limited local restrictions on the number of unrelated adults who can share a home — an especially important step for increasing access to affordable housing in college towns.
Together, these reforms reflect a shift in focus: away from restrictive land use rules and toward a statewide policy posture that treats housing availability as a foundational economic and quality-of-life issue.
Rather than prescribing one-size-fits-all solutions, the Legislature removed barriers that prevent private actors from responding to market demand. With these policy changes, Texas has positioned itself to increase housing production, support more types of housing options, and begin to restore the affordability that has long been central to the state’s prosperity.
Texas Voters Speak
In 2024, a statewide poll indicated that nine out of ten Texans report that housing affordability is a problem where they live. So, we surveyed Texas voters about solutions.
An overwhelming majority (84%) supported allowing homeowners to build additional housing, such as garage apartments or tiny homes, on their existing lots.