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Protesters hold signs and gather at the Travis County Civil and Family Courts Facility in support of affordable housing on Aug. 28, 2023.

Austin will try again to tame its housing affordability crisis with zoning reforms. Can it do it this time?

The city’s decades-long battle to overhaul local rules to allow more, denser housing to be built may be reaching a turning point.


An unignorable crisis

An older home in a single-family neighborhood displays a large orange sign reading "END CONSTRUCTION" on Sept. 16, 2023. Newly built duplex units at 4425 Jester Drive can be seen in the side mirror of a car in the foreground.
A tree provides shade in the yard of 4425 Jester Dr, Unit 1 on Sept. 16, 2023. The newly constructed building, located near downtown Austin, is one of two duplex units built on a quarter-acre lot.
A placard displayed on a wall during an open house describes the ecological benefits of infill building at 4425 Jester Drive, Unit 1 on Sept. 16, 2023. The newly constructed building, located near downtown Austin, is one of two duplex units built on a quarter-acre lot.
Claudia Cadena, an EMT at Austin-Travis County EMS, stands in the EMS garage bay at the end of a shift on Sept. 14, 2023.
Claudia Cadena, an EMT at Austin-Travis County EMS, sits in her car at the end of a shift before commuting back to her home in San Antonio on Sept. 14, 2023.

More density, more homes

A staunch opposition

Frances Acuña stands in the front yard of her South Austin home on Sept. 16, 2023. Acuña, a Community Organizer at Go Austin/Vamos Austin, opposes many of Austin's new zoning changes, saying that they will cause displacement.
Motorists commute northbound along Interstate 35 Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023 in South Austin. Throughout the past decade, Austin has quickly become the epicenter of an affordable housing crisis, causing many residents to leave the city in search of reasonable home prices and rents.
Protesters hold signs and chant at the steps of the Travis County Civil and Family Courts Facility. Dozens gathered in support of affordable housing on Aug. 28, 2023.

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