'What are we getting?': We pulled the data from 264 HOME initiative applications

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Turning a garage into a single-family residence in north Austin, building a series of two-story townhomes near south Congress and adding an accessory dwelling unit to an existing home near Parmer Lane and Mopac.

Those are some of the changes requested in applications under the city of Austin's new HOME initiative.

KXAN looked through all 264 HOME applications submitted as of Monday, from both phase one and two of the initiative, after hearing concerns from some community groups that they lacked access to data.

What is the HOME initiative?

HOME, an acronym for Home Options for Middle-income Empowerment, is a series of changes to Austin’s land development code — and other incentives for creating or preserving housing. Those for the changes say they increase housing inventory in Austin, in turn making our city more affordable.

There are two parts to this. HOME part one allowed up to three units to be built on a single-family lot and allowed tiny homes to be considered one of those units. The Austin City Council approved phase one in December of 2023 and the city opened its application process for that phase in February of 2024.

As of Monday, the city's Development Services Department (DSD) told KXAN that 260 applications have been submitted under that initial phase. KXAN has previously interviewed some of the builders who say they've been part of that process.

HOME phase two largely reduced the amount of land needed to build a home, called minimum lot size requirements. The city says as of Monday, there have only been four applications filed since that application process opened in August (thought it only partially opened in August, opening to everyone in November).

What does the data tell us now?

As applications roll in under HOME, you should be able to analyze the impact yourself, but as we talked to groups that have been the most vocal against the changes, they say they've struggled to get robust data.

"I think it's important for us to look geographically at where they have fallen," said Carmen Llanes, the executive director of Go Austin/Vamos Austin, one of the groups most staunchly opposed to the HOME initiative. "I know they've been all over the city, but like, what are we seeing? Where are we seeing it? And what are we getting?...We have nothing, from what I can see, it's left to the citizens to do their own calculations."

Above is a map of HOME application addresses compiled by KXAN using city of Austin data (Joseph Conrey via Google Maps).

The city does have some data available to the public on it's HOME website surrounding how many applications have been filed under phase one. And DSD told us each application is public record -- but finding those records without the help of DSD would have been nearly impossible.

The department provided KXAN with all 264 permit numbers of applications filed under the HOME initiative so far. We had to look them up individually on the city's Austin Build + Connect portal to get information like addresses and what each applicant hoped to build.

Below is a list KXAN compiled of addresses from applications filed through the HOME initiative. Note that not all of the applications listed below have been approved.

"At this time, City staff is still compiling and analyzing data on the impact of HOME, which will be included as part of the Annual Impact Report in February," a spokesperson for DSD said.

KXAN is also still working through the data and will continue to keep you updated on trends.