Texas lawmakers push for solutions as soaring housing costs fuel statewide crisis

AUSTIN, Texas (KTRK) -- Texas is among the fastest-growing states. According to the Census Bureau, more than 560,000 people moved here between 2023 and 2024. That's great for the economy, but it's not great for housing.

Travel inside the loop, and you'll notice the tall, skinny townhomes that populate the city's neighborhoods.

These townhomes do more than provide for vibrant, close-knit communities. They also help with the state's growing housing affordability problem.

Emily Brizzolara-Dove is a policy analyst with the nonpartisan think tank Texas 2036.

"The Houston townhome is a really great example of what the market produces when it's allowed to comprehensively respond to demand," she told ABC13. "We're getting really, really close to a time when young Texas families will be unable to purchase a home, and we know that home ownership is really foundational to the financial success of most American families."

In an October 2024 report, the Texas Comptroller detailed the affordability gap, noting that the median home price in Texas rose by about 40% between 2019 and 2023, with sharp increases in 2021 and 2022 post-pandemic.

According to the Houston Association of Realtors, the median home price in Houston had risen to more than $336,000 in January 2025.

State lawmakers are well aware.

"We have a shortage of housing," State Senator Carol Alvarado (D-Houston) said. "And the comptroller has said we need about 320,000 units of housing to accommodate the people we have here now and anticipated growth."

So, there are now a variety of bills that could help speed up construction and perhaps contain the rising costs.

"Speeding up the permitting process, making sure there are fewer land use restrictions," Speaker of the House Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock) said. "Trying to do more investment into affordable housing for our working class."

"Cut the red tape out of what are unoccupied commercial buildings and cut the red tape so we can try to convert them to residential lofts or condos," said State Senator Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston).

Brizzolara-Dove said Texas relies too much on either larger single-family homes or large apartment complexes.

"There is a whole lot of housing in between those two that it's difficult to build," she said. "And so we want to free up some of that land use so that we can build all that stuff that's in the middle. "

The Houston townhome could be a solution in other cities across Texas should the legislature attack an issue that is becoming a crisis.

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