Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In
Streetsblog

What the Rest of the Country Can Learn from Houston’s Damn-Low Rents

Matt Yglesias's new book, "The Rent is Too Damn High" has been getting a lot of buzz on the Streetsblog Network recently. It seems the problem Yglesias describes -- zoning restrictions that make new urban housing development onerous or near impossible -- exists in every city, much to the frustration of those seeking affordable rents, not to mention those who favor walkable urban neighborhoods.

But if there's one urban place where new housing can be built freely, one city we might look to as a model, that place is -- surprise -- Houston, says Chris Bradford at the Austin Contrarian. While it might be known for sprawl, Houston's relative lack of land-use regulations actually makes it a good place in terms of facilitating infill development, Bradford says:

Demand for housing has been rising in the Montrose/River Oaks area in Houston, especially from renters. Rents rose there at a 9.1% annual rate in January.

The difference between Houston and a lot of other cities is that it is still easy to add housing in Houston's nice, central city neighborhoods (unless your project has "Ashby" in the title). There are currently 15 apartment projects with 4,300 units under construction in the Montrose/River Oaks area. That's not "announced" units; that's 4,300 units under construction. For point of reference, only 3,089 building permits were issued for housing units of any type in the entire San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metropolitan area in 2011.

Houston has a lot of needless land-use controls, including excessive minimum-space requirements and parking minimums, but there really aren't many other places in the country where there is both strong demand for infill development and a regulatory environment that freely allows it.

Elsewhere on the Network today: Transit Miami shares the grim details of an especially bloody weekend on the city's streets (and even sometimes near the roads). Second Avenue Sagas uses street shots in New York City's DUMBO neighborhood to illustrate how traffic problems are caused by private cars and delivery vehicles -- not buses, as some residents claim. And This Big City looks at the failure-fraught history of the monorail.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

And the Winner Is…: Streetsblog’s New Video Team Honored with Deadline Club Award

Streetsblog's social media team, led by Engagement Editor Emily Lipstein, received the Deadline Club's award for digital video reporting on Thursday night.

Friday Video: The ‘Clear’ Benefits of Daylighting

The doyen of daylighting is back with a new video.

May 16, 2025

How One Anti-Gov’t Republican Signed onto a Street Safety Bill to Rein in Reckless Drivers

State Sen. Anthony Palumbo went from "government overreach" to reaching across the aisle in a single day.

May 16, 2025

‘All in the Family’: NYPD Commissioner and Power-Broker Mom Are Both Crusading Against E-Bikes

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch has justified her criminal crackdown on cycling by saying that complaints about cyclists are the most frequent concerns she hears. Such complaints could be coming from inside the house.

May 16, 2025

Puddles Plague Hudson River Greenway As Rain Batters NYC

Greenway cyclists face dangerous conditions when it rains — as Streetsblog observed this week in Manhattan.

May 16, 2025
See all posts