Affordability issues are pushing Texas renters to consider moving, according to a new survey of 1,100 residents by the Texas Affiliation of Affordable Housing Providers.
While a slim majority of Texans, about 55%, said they would not choose to leave the Lone Star state altogether, nearly one in five Texans shared they would consider, or have considered, moving out of state because of rising housing costs. About 14% reported they would consider moving to a cheaper part of Texas. About 43% of the survey’s respondents identified as middle class and 28% as working class.
Renters, who accounted for 32% of respondents, shared how they are especially hurting. About 75% of renters reported housing cost increases over the past year, which led 57% of them to cut back on daily expenses such as groceries.
“We now have some data that actually says what we’ve been talking about,” said Roger Arriaga, executive director of TAAHP, adding that his organization plans to use the information to push for policy changes.
The nonprofit trade association focuses primarily on multifamily rental housing for residents earning below the area median income. These are affordable housing options built using housing tax credits or exemptions and other local incentives.
Last year, the state legislature pushed for housing affordability, said Naomi Bludworth, deputy executive director of TAAHP, however the focus was primarily on home ownership and single-family housing.
According to TAAHP, about 45% of 4.2 million renter households in the state are spending more than 30% of their income on housing. Among extremely low-income renters, over 80% are spending more than half their income on housing.
The survey also reported broad dissatisfaction with current legislative action to address growing housing costs. A 56% majority of Texans — and 66% of renters — said state officials are doing too little to address housing affordability. Nearly a third of all respondents said it should be a top priority for elected officials.
The renter-to-homeowner pipeline
“If the governor or the legislators really want to get people into being homeowners, then they need to turn their focus to serving the people who are in a rental state,” Bludworth said. “That particular area is not getting any better.
As rents go up because of the housing shortage, there’s no clear or easy pathway for renters to reach homeownership, Arriaga said.
“Families that would otherwise be first-time homebuyers are being further and further distanced from that opportunity,” he said. “Add on the costs of transportation, education and healthcare, and the families that would have been moving into single-family homes years ago are still having to rent because there’s just not an easy path to get there.”
In the survey, a majority of Texans also supported expanding programs to help first-time home buyers and offering special assistance to Texas’ essential workers such as teachers, police officers, EMTs, firefighters and veterans to access homeownership.
Residents vote with their feet
TAAHP is now advocating for streamlining regulations to keep affordable housing projects viable, especially in cities where plans do not always align with the state. They also pushed for more funding, incentives and tax exemptions that would allow them to redirect those resources to other areas.
Arriaga said because affordable housing projects need government subsidies, the associated costs from extra requirements and regulations are enormous.
“The bar is so high for affordable housing developments, the costs are through the roof, even beyond a regular market-rate development that doesn’t get any subsidy,” he said, adding this has led to fewer and fewer of them getting built. “And when they are built, they’re having to be smaller just to accommodate those extra costs.”
The lack of affordable housing options will lead residents to vote with their feet, Arriaga said, at a time when Texas is working to drive the economy further with jobs and economic development.
They may say, “Hey, I can’t afford my housing anymore — maybe I’ll move to Louisiana or Oklahoma or New Mexico — some place where I can make a living and not have to pay so much out of pocket for my housing,” he said.
“Or if not that, maybe they’re moving from Dallas to a more affordable San Antonio, or the more suburban areas as well.”
This reporting is part of the Future of North Texas, a community-funded journalism initiative supported by the Commit Partnership, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, the Dallas Mavericks, the Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Lisa and Charles Siegel, the McCune-Losinger Family Fund, The Meadows Foundation, the Perot Foundation, the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and the University of Texas at Dallas. The News retains full editorial control of this coverage.