Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Streetsblog USA home
Log In
Streetsblog.net

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 USA

Friday Video: How Car Culture and the Internet Attention Economy Waste Your Time

Our favorite YouTuber breaks down what happens when car culture, hyper-consumerism, and internet brain rot collide — and how to claw our way out.

September 19, 2025

Friday’s Headlines Run Out the Clock

Thousands of unawarded federal transportation grants have been frozen, from reducing truck emissions to reconnecting communities divided by freeways.

September 19, 2025

Talking Headways Podcast: Live from MARS To Change the ‘Crash First, Fix Later’ Mentality

Welcome to MARS: Modern Analytics for Roadway Safety. Let's talk about it in a special edition of the podcast.

September 18, 2025

Thursday’s Headlines Freak Out, Give In

Doesn't matter what you believe in, at least regarding the current debate over how safe it is to ride transit.

September 18, 2025

How Many Americans Live in Walkable Neighborhoods?

...and how does your community measure up?

September 18, 2025

It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Wednesday’s Headlines

Is our Jetsons future is finally upon us? Plus, a new and better way to measure streets' level of service.

September 17, 2025
See all posts