Michigan housing advocates are pointing to Austin, Texas, as they attempt to construct help for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s “grand cut price” housing affordability agenda within the state Legislature.
Advocates say a multi-year set of zoning, allowing and code reforms in Austin helped drive a surge in homebuilding – and that the ensuing improve in provide coincided with a significant decline in rents. They argue Michigan may see comparable advantages if lawmakers advance Whitmer’s proposed Housing Readiness plan and associated measures to cut back regulatory boundaries.
“Bipartisan housing laws might help us tackle Michigan’s dire housing scarcity,” Lauren Strickland, government director of Ample Housing Michigan, mentioned in an announcement. “Related housing reforms in Austin proved profitable, driving down rents, particularly for residences that serve lower-income households.”
Strickland pointed to a brand new study from The Pew Charitable Trusts detailing how Austin’s reforms helped allow a development increase.
“Some municipal leaders are apprehensive about change, which is comprehensible, however this information is a transparent and goal reminder that including extra houses helps handle prices for those who want it most,” Strickland mentioned.
Whitmer’s housing agenda heads towards Lansing negotiations
In her February State of the State tackle, Whitmer outlined a housing agenda that features a new state tax credit score and a broader push to chop allowing delays and regulatory hurdles. She additionally mentioned the state ought to make it simpler to redevelop vacant and brownfield websites.
Key components of the plan haven’t but been formally launched, and the proposal stays in a negotiating part as lawmakers weigh competing priorities.
Pew’s report provides advocates a data-focused argument as they anticipate opposition from native governments and different stakeholders cautious of density and zoning modifications.
“The legislation of provide and demand by no means fails,” Chris Nebenzahl, vice chairman for rental economics at John Burns Analysis and Consulting, wrote in a LinkedIn post about Austin’s expertise.
By the numbers: Austin’s provide surge and lease pullback
Austin’s lease progress accelerated in 2021 throughout the COVID-19-era housing increase, just like different Solar Belt metros. The area’s tech-sector job progress added demand, and Tesla opened a producing plant in 2022 that now employs greater than 20,000 employees.
Austin added about 120,000 houses from 2015 to 2024, with a big share delivered up to now three years, based on Pew. The metro’s housing inventory elevated by about 30% over that interval – greater than triple the nationwide tempo.
Median asking lease fell from $1,546 in December 2021 to $1,296 in January 2026. Austin shifted from about 15% above the U.S. median asking lease to roughly 4% beneath it, at the same time as inhabitants continued to develop.
In inflation-adjusted phrases, metropolis rents fell 19% from 2021 to 2025, whereas nationwide rents rose about 10%. Rents in different high-growth Texas markets elevated about 6% over the identical interval, diverging from Austin’s decline.
What modified in Austin
Pew’s report outlines a number of reforms and coverage shifts that helped improve the tempo of growth:
Zoning and land use: Vertical Combined Use zoning (since 2007) lowered parking necessities by 60% and enabled greater than 17,600 models. Town additionally pursued focused rezonings, downtown density bonuses and top incentives tied to income-restricted models close to the College of Texas.
Accent dwelling models and infill: Reforms in 2015 — together with smaller minimal lot sizes, lowered parking necessities and removing of a second-driveway mandate — expanded the power to construct ADUs on most single-family heaps. From 2015 to 2024, Austin permitted 2,850 ADUs, about 7% of recent single-family and townhouse models.
Parking and code modifications: In 2023, Austin eradicated minimal parking necessities for many makes use of and expanded “lacking center” housing choices by way of overlays and bonuses.
Affordability packages: Voters accredited housing bonds totaling $600 million in 2018 and 2022. Town’s 2019 Affordability Unlocked program relaxed top, unit caps, parking and different guidelines for tasks the place at the least half of models are income-restricted. Density bonuses produced tons of of inexpensive models and supported towers as tall as roughly 300 to 400 ft in some areas.
HOME initiative: Adopted in 2023 and 2024, HOME permits extra small multifamily growth — together with duplexes and triplexes — and lowers minimal lot sizes from 5,750 sq. ft to 1,800 sq. ft. It additionally gives incentives for tasks that protect elements of current buildings and street-facing facades.
Allowing and AI: Austin’s “Web site Plan Lite” and an expedited evaluate monitor lower site-plan timelines by greater than half by 2024. A 2025 AI precheck pilot is meant to flag points earlier within the course of.
Single-stair rule: A 2025 code change permits residence buildings as much as 5 tales and 20 models above grade to make use of a single stairway, a change supporters say can scale back prices and make smaller infill tasks simpler to finance.
What it means for Michigan
Michigan has not skilled the identical job and inhabitants progress as Austin, and statewide inhabitants progress has been comparatively stagnant. However housing advocates say the state’s affordability challenges are rooted in years of underbuilding and restrictive native zoning – pressures compounded by larger development prices and restricted wage progress.
State officers have estimated a scarcity of 119,000 houses. The Nationwide Low Earnings Housing Coalition has separately estimated that Michigan wants 195,000 further houses for terribly low-income households.
Whitmer’s allies need lawmakers to view Austin’s expertise as proof that coverage modifications can materially improve provide and assist cool rents – and as a mannequin that might inform laws aligned with Whitmer’s agenda.
