Business View Magazine - April 2024

to provide free services to its constituents. ADVOCATING FOR BETTER POLICIES “Advocacy is a huge part of what we do here,” says Jackson. “In the City of Austin, for example, we have been working on what is called the HOME Initiative. It’s a significant step forward for the city.” HOME stands for Home Ownership for Mobility and Equity. Its purpose is to address Austin’s scarcity of middle-income housing. Through a series of initiatives promulgated by the city council, it aims to give builders the flexibility to build a greater variety of homes in existing single detached-homes neighborhoods -- a concept known as “gentle density.” For example, Phase One of HOME, which was recently passed: allows for a single-family lot owner to build up to three units on the property; incentivizes the preservation of the city’s older, more affordable housing inventory; limits the overall house sizes on lots to allow for the development of smaller single- family homes; and makes it easier to have a “tiny home” as a dwelling unit in single-family zoning. “Phase Two will reduce the minimum lot size, which is a big issue,” Jackson notes. “The minimum lot size for Austin is 5,700 square feet. Other cities range between 1,500 sq. ft. to 2,000 sq. ft. as a minimum lot size. So, all we’re able to build, according to our current code, are large, single-family homes. So, the HOME initiative provides opportunities for builders to build denser homes, as well as a variety of homes like townhomes and dwelling units for people to age in place. We’re excited that with these two phases together, Austin is going to have a robust and progressive housing policy in place.” THE ASSOCIATION’S CHALLENGES While the homebuilding industry, in general, has been impacted recently by rising home prices, as well as rising mortgage interest rates that have retarded home buying, Jackson reveals that Greater Austin is in better shape than many other locales due to its cascading growth over the past few decades. “Our challenge here is Austin is keeping up with the rapid population growth and making sure that we have homes available,” she shares. “And our second biggest challenge is workforce development for the construction industry as a whole.” “For us, as an organization, one of the ways that we get involved is through our Workforce Development Committee, where our members work with a variety of school districts,” Jackson continues.“High schools have CTE (Career and Technical Education) programs that our members provide curriculum, supplies, specialized speakers, and mentors for.” “We go to different career fairs, as well, and we talk with parents to let them know that the construction industry is very viable because we’ll always need homes. And there are a lot of different options in the construction industry besides framing a house; there’s marketing, sales, land acquisition, and the trades: plumbing, electrical, etc.” “There are a lot of different avenues. We’re also looking to expand programming into our colleges – Austin Community College and a few other colleges and trade programs to work with them to more immediately get people jobs in the construction industry.” MEETING THE DEMAND Going forward, Jackson says that HBAGA will continue to put a high priority on communicating with its members, identifying their challenges, and finding appropriate solutions for and with them. In conclusion, she states,“As an organization, we want to be their number one source of reliable information, staying on top of their issues, and making sure that we’re progressing and meeting the demand for growth.” 24 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 11, ISSUE 04