DALLAS 鈥� Until last month, if a developer wanted to build a run-of-the-mill apartment complex in Irving, that building could reach up to three stories and had to have plentiful places for kids to run around.
Now, that apartment complex must have eight floors. It must include a swimming pool, a dog park, a gym and a workspace for remote workers. Builders must also pick from a menu of amenities to add, such as a yoga room, a place to wash pets or cars or a station for cyclists to repair their bikes.
The Irving City Council on the eve of a new state law intended to force Texas鈥� largest cities and suburbs to allow more apartments and mixed-use developments to be built. Texas lawmakers passed that law this year as part of , mainly by overriding local rules to allow more homes to be built.
The law 鈥渦nlocks new opportunities for more housing,鈥� Gov. said at a bill signing ceremony last month. 鈥淢any local governments make it too slow and too expensive to build more housing. (The bill) slashes regulations and speeds up the permitting process.鈥�
State legislators effectively sapped a good chunk of cities鈥� ability to determine what kinds of housing can be built and where 鈥� a power they鈥檝e enjoyed for nearly a century.
That idea hasn鈥檛 gone over well in some of the state鈥檚 largest suburban cities, places where devotion to the single-family neighborhood runs deep and attempts to alter that have often been met with stiff resistance. The pushback persists even as Texas suburbs have morphed from mere bedroom communities with cheap, plentiful housing into major corporate centers home to some of the state鈥檚 most prominent employers 鈥� as well as some of its highest housing costs.
The new law, however, appears to have left wiggle room for cities to determine other factors like design and size.
Irving, Arlington, Plano and Frisco 鈥� all nestled in the Dallas-Fort Worth region, the state鈥檚 largest economy 鈥� have capitalized on that and thrown up a slew of new rules within the past few weeks intended to put a check on just how many new apartments can get built under the new law, if any. Among the new rules are stricter building codes, height thresholds, infrastructure requirements, design standards and mandates that apartments provide a certain amount of amenities to their tenants.
鈥淚t is completely unsurprising to me that when (cities) think they are facing an edict from the state that strips them of the powers to make decisions that they think are in the best interest of their citizens, they push back,鈥� said David Schwarte, who heads the Texas Neighborhood Coalition, a group that opposed many of the statewide housing bills this year.
Officials in those suburbs opposed the bill as it moved through the Texas Legislature. Now they argue new local restrictions are needed to maintain some control over what kinds of homes get built, make sure new development isn鈥檛 unsightly for existing residents, is suitably habitable for new tenants and doesn鈥檛 strain city infrastructure.
鈥淢ake no mistake, I have always supported more housing in this city,鈥� Plano Mayor John Muns said during an August hearing on his city鈥檚 measures. 鈥淲hat (new state housing laws) have done is they've taken complete authority away from what our community would like to see. 鈥� We would just like to be self-assured that those developments are at the highest quality that belong in the city of Plano.鈥�
Those rules, critics say, undercut the law by either driving up the ultimate cost of a housing development or making those projects financially infeasible. Builders, meanwhile, are waiting for the dust to settle to see which cities embrace the law before they move forward with any new projects unlocked by the law.
The law鈥檚 proponents warn that such rules will make it harder for builders to put up enough homes to put a dent in housing costs. If suburbs resist measures to allow more housing, they put the state鈥檚 housing affordability and economic success in peril, housing advocates argue.
Nicole Nosek, who chairs the housing advocacy group Texans for Reasonable Solutions , said her organization is preparing a potential lawsuit to try to force the cities to comply with the law. If they don鈥檛, Nosek said, the state鈥檚 housing shortage will worsen and housing costs will climb higher, further putting homeownership out of reach for families.
鈥淭he Legislature acted to stop this exact cycle, but if these rules stand, local obstruction wins and Texans lose,鈥� Nosek said.
State lawmakers who pushed the bills aren鈥檛 happy, but they likely won鈥檛 be able to act until the Legislature convenes for its next regular meeting in 2027.
鈥淲hat we're seeing from some jurisdictions is that they believe that somehow they're leading the resistance,鈥� said state Sen. , a Houston Republican who shepherded many of this year鈥檚 big housing proposals. 鈥淏ut they're leading the resistance to good ideas like housing affordability.鈥�
A spokesperson for Frisco declined to comment. Officials from Arlington and Irving were not made available for comment.
What are the suburbs doing and why?
Texas needs about 320,000 more homes than it has, 鈥� a key driver of the state鈥檚 higher home prices and rents. To put a dent in that shortage, lawmakers this year passed , which automatically allows apartments and mixed-use developments to go in places that previously only allowed stores, offices and warehouses in 19 of the state鈥檚 biggest cities. Previously, most major Texas cities made it illegal for residences to be built in those places. Cities tend to allow single-family homes to be built pretty much anywhere they allow people to live, .
If landowners in those cities wanted to build apartments or mixed-use buildings on property that doesn鈥檛 already allow it, they would have to go through a city process to rezone the land. That process can often be lengthy, with any delay driving up that housing鈥檚 ultimate cost. It鈥檚 also an uncertain process because it gives people opposed to more housing near them an avenue to pressure local officials to kill the project. The idea behind the bill was twofold: unlock more land in the state鈥檚 most populous cities for apartments and mixed-use buildings to go while removing a barrier to that development.
Places like Minneapolis that have enacted similar reforms have seen apartment building surge and rents decline in newer, high-end apartments and older, cheaper apartments alike, . Similarly, the Austin-Round Rock region has undergone a massive apartment building boom since the start of the decade. As a result, .
Still, suburbs have tried to exert some control over what gets built.
Arlington, Irving and Plano put in place rules ahead of the bill taking effect Monday that say apartments and mixed-use developments must reach a minimum height to be built, an unusual requirement. Many modern apartment complexes commonly sit at around three to four stories tall, though cities sometimes allow them to go taller in some places.
If a builder wants to put up an apartment building on land in Irving where one wasn鈥檛 allowed before the new law, it must be at least eight stories tall. In Arlington, that building would have to be at least six stories tall . In Plano, the city will require apartments in many commercial areas to be at least 45 feet tall and office areas to be .
Irving will require new apartments and mixed-use developments built using the law to meet than those previously applied to such developments, like measures to require apartments to be more energy efficient and have cleaner indoor air quality. Apartments tend to use less energy than other kinds of residences like detached single-family homes, .
Arlington , like swimming pools or basketball courts, the city requires apartment builders to put on their properties. The city also enacted rules that at least 15% of parking spots must include electric vehicle charging stations.
Frisco has gone further than many of its North Texas counterparts, attempting a novel approach to sidestep the law altogether. The new law explicitly forbids apartments and mixed-use developments in zoning categories that also allow heavy industrial uses. The Frisco City Council to allow heavy industry in the same places new housing is allowed under the law. The City Council retained the right to approve heavy industrial use in those places, an unlikely move given the city鈥檚 tony vibe.
Not every move is aimed at discouraging housing altogether. To try to maintain the city鈥檚 single-family character, Plano will allow in some places where state law now allows apartments and mixed-use developments. So whether it鈥檚 a single-family home or an apartment, housing is allowed in more places in Plano.
Officials in those suburbs cast new housing as a potential strain on local infrastructure like police, roads, water and sewage systems. But studies have shown that it鈥檚 less expensive to provide those services to denser developments like the ones encouraged by the law than suburban sprawl dominated by single-family homes, including . Those developments also generate more property tax revenue per acre than single-family homes.
The law comes along at a time when Texas cities, counties and school districts are facing financial strain, in part owing to stagnating property values. Testifying against a bill to put stricter limits on cities鈥� property tax revenue, Irving City Manager Chris Hillman told state lawmakers in August that the city鈥檚 tax base routinely isn鈥檛 enough to cover its police and fire departments.
Enacting new state housing laws could help ease that financial strain, said Emily Brizzolara-Dove, a policy analyst with Texas 2036 who focuses on housing affordability.
鈥淭he benefits are so great that I think that if there were a couple of first mover municipalities who embraced those principles and saw the resulting fiscal benefits that it would be tremendously impactful for the rest of the state,鈥� Brizzolara-Dove said.
Critics of the new law worry the opposite will happen: that the change will drive down property tax revenue because it strips land from commercial use, which can generate more tax revenue.
Meanwhile, the state鈥檚 biggest cities don鈥檛 appear to be putting up much if any resistance to the new law, the bill鈥檚 proponents say. Dallas and Fort Worth seem to be embracing the law, they note. It鈥檚 even possible that Dallas, whose population has been stagnant for years, could once more see its population grow given its acceptance of the law, said Cullum Clark, director of the George W. Bush Institute鈥檚 Economic Growth Initiative at Southern Methodist University.
Even if Dallas and Fort Worth see a resulting building boom owing to the law, any rent relief those cities see as a result will be limited if the neighboring suburbs don鈥檛 play along. It鈥檚 possible that other suburbs may join their ranks. McKinney officials have said they鈥檙e eying similar measures to what Arlington, Plano and Irving have passed.
鈥淲e're learning that when there's a reform in a place, it's not like all the people who really didn't want to see that kind of reform just say, 鈥榞uess we lost that forever,鈥� Clark said. 鈥淭he fight goes on.鈥�