Zoning's role in Austin's unaffordability (Round Rock, Cameron: buying a house, school, college)

[gpurcell]

LOOK AT THE GRAPH.

There are NOT "lots of people in Hyde Park with kids." There are fewer children of ALL AGES than a single-year cohort of students--and note that the number of children shrinks after five or six.

When I bought my bungalow only one bungalow on the block was student rentals. In ten years three have flipped to student rentals (and another from owner occupied to rental). Or take, for example, the Christmas light street--or what was ONCE the Christmas light street because it is dead. And the reason it is dead is that virtually all of the owner occupiers left in the last decade and the street turned virtually all student rental.

You haven't a clue what is actually going on in the neighborhood.

[ImOnFiya]

Originally Posted by gpurcell

LOOK AT THE GRAPH.

There are NOT "lots of people in Hyde Park with kids." There are fewer children of ALL AGES than a single-year cohort of students--and note that the number of children shrinks after five or six.

When I bought my bungalow only one bungalow on the block was student rentals. In ten years three have flipped to student rentals (and another from owner occupied to rental). Or take, for example, the Christmas light street--or what was ONCE the Christmas light street because it is dead. And the reason it is dead is that virtually all of the owner occupiers left in the last decade and the street turned virtually all student rental.

You haven't a clue what is actually going on in the neighborhood.

I agree that W.37th St.(Btw Guadalupe St. and Home Ln. alley) is a shadow of its former self. However, you must admit that your street is an outlier.

Those tiny bungalows cannot support a modern family of 4 and with the extreme small lots, the buildable lot area is not ameliable to additions, rather they are more competitive as tear downs, but many or those bungalows are near historic and the Hyde Park NA would have massive protests if they were ever torn down. If I wanted to rehab older homes, sorry I wouldn't chose your street, so I'm not surprised the homeowners haven't been able to sell.

[Komeht]

Originally Posted by gpurcell

LOOK AT THE GRAPH.

There are NOT "lots of people in Hyde Park with kids." There are fewer children of ALL AGES than a single-year cohort of students--and note that the number of children shrinks after five or six.

When I bought my bungalow only one bungalow on the block was student rentals. In ten years three have flipped to student rentals (and another from owner occupied to rental). Or take, for example, the Christmas light street--or what was ONCE the Christmas light street because it is dead. And the reason it is dead is that virtually all of the owner occupiers left in the last decade and the street turned virtually all student rental.

You haven't a clue what is actually going on in the neighborhood.

Seen it - and, given the fact that it's located next to one of the largest universities in the entire world, seems appropriate. I would hope downtown would have similar spikes in professionals such as lawyers and accountants. Live/work/study/play in close proximity makes a lot of sense in a city where traffic is becoming a nightmare. In fact, I would definitely and do definitely support MUCH MUCH higher densities of students in Hyde Park and NUNA - this is where they SHOULD be living.

However, that doesn't preclude a single family of leaving Hyde Park - lots and lots of opportunity for infill development if the neighborhood would just stop fighting sensible student housing.

And since I lived in Hyde Park for a number of years, and NUNA throughout grad school and since I have a ton of friends in Hyde Park and I spent 3 or 4 days a week there, I have a pretty good clue as to what is going on there.

Oh, BTW - I also know a folks who lived and participated on Christmas light street in its heyday. They were renters. In fact, I'd say the vast majority of that street back then was rentals, not owner occupied. So you have no clue as to what you are talking about.

[gpurcell]

The core people on the Christmas light street WERE owners. When they sold and left, the tradition basically ended. The "vast majority" were certainly not rentals--there was a group of rentals at the time close to the Groovy Lube but the rest were mainly owner occupied.

What you're demanding is the end of any families in the neighborhood. So you can't be too surprised when families in the neighborhood disagree with you.

And, no, you clearly haven't a clue.

[gpurcell]

Originally Posted by ImOnFiya

I agree that W.37th St.(Btw Guadalupe St. and Home Ln. alley) is a shadow of its former self. However, you must admit that your street is an outlier.

Those tiny bungalows cannot support a modern family of 4 and with the extreme small lots, the buildable lot area is not ameliable to additions, rather they are more competitive as tear downs, but many or those bungalows are near historic and the Hyde Park NA would have massive protests if they were ever torn down. If I wanted to rehab older homes, sorry I wouldn't chose your street, so I'm not surprised the homeowners haven't been able to sell.

37th Street is a bit of a special case (it was actually built out as a separate platted district and was called "ANZAC Place") but the point is that it illustrates the shift from owner-occupied to rentals of all types. While some specific avenues in Hyde Park proper and Hyde Park Annex are still reasonably coherent, the chipping away at the edges is consistent and constant.

[brattpowered]

Originally Posted by gpurcell

The core people on the Christmas light street WERE owners. When they sold and left, the tradition basically ended. The "vast majority" were certainly not rentals--there was a group of rentals at the time close to the Groovy Lube but the rest were mainly owner occupied.

What you're demanding is the end of any families in the neighborhood. So you can't be too surprised when families in the neighborhood disagree with you.

And, no, you clearly haven't a clue.

I didn't know that these students were forcibly removing families from their homes by gunpoint. Someone should call the police!

[riaelise]

Well, Hyde park or not, the bane of many a homeowner is an abundance of rentals. Suburban areas had to deal with the problem for years.

[A-Tex]

Originally Posted by brattpowered

How many then? 3? 4?

Income does not make an area diverse.

[Komeht]

This discussion on Hyde Park illustrates EXACTLY the problem in Austin. We have too many people giving too much deferential to inflated and somewhat hysterical NIMBY, er Neighborhood, concerns over increasing density and the horror of renters - a very odd position for a majority renter city to take.

Austin would could be perfectly affordable. . .unfortunately we're going on 3 decades of extreme zoning restrictions that have severely crimped the ability to add supply to a market more in demand every single day. The result is entirely predictable - very accelerated price increases and many folks completely left out.

And - here's the really tough part - there is no easy fix to 3 decades of regulatory interference with the market place. It will take decades to add much needed supply beginning if and when we regain our senses and allow it to happen. Every day that goes by and we don't makes the problem worse and will take much longer to fix.

The solution to a demand problem is supply.

[Komeht]

And the answer to one obvious retort - yes there was bad development that NIMBY's reacted to. But the solution to bad development isn't no development - it's good development.