Talk of the Town Podcast
Talk of the Town Podcast with Kevin Cole and Cameron Cole, where we're about local stories, local leaders, and local impact.
Talk of the Town Podcast
Texas Growth Forces Hard Choices On Housing
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What happens when housing affordability collides with local control? In this episode, we examine the rising cost of housing in Pearland and across the Highway 288 corridor, and break down two major Texas bills—SB 15 (the Tiny Lot Bill) and SB 840 that could reshape future development. We discuss what’s driving construction costs, how interest rates and infrastructure affect home prices, and what these proposed laws could mean for neighborhoods, property rights, and the future of growth in Texas. Whether you’re a homeowner, buyer, developer, or simply interested in your community, this episode offers a clear, balanced look at one of the state’s biggest issues.
Town Hall Preview And Stakes
SPEAKER_00Welcome to the next episode of the Talk of the Town Podcast with Kevin Cole. I am Cameron Cole and Well, how are you doing today?
SPEAKER_02I'm doing well. Of course, you know, it's July in Southeast Texas, so it's uh it's always quite warm. So warm or hot? Well, it's always hot.
SPEAKER_00It's always hot. Speaking of hot, we're gonna talk about a hot topic today. Super hot topic. So before we kind of get into the apartments, the townhomes, um high density residential, you know, is it needed, is it not needed, why do people push back against it? We want to let the public know that Parrilland City Council has been working on a town hall. Um it's coming up in the next week or so. So pay attention to um social media platforms, the city page, absolutely. Reach out to your council member, reach out to your mayor about getting the date and time of that. Um the the taping of this episode is kind of tentative, so we don't want to give a date and be wrong. Right. We rather we want to be accurate uh in our information. So um be on the lookout if you want to join and actually be a part of that town hall concerning high density residential. Uh with that being said, kind of set the stage for us today and what we're gonna talk about with property rights, with uh the legislature and and and the like.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so you know, at the end of the day, you know, housing is getting um harder and harder from an affordability standpoint, right? So we have many, many families, couples, young couples, uh that home ownership, which has always been, you know, a piece of America, um, you know, that that rite of passage to where you own a piece of property, put a house on it, and and live your life, right? And and so that is becoming out of reach for some families, for some young couples, especially. Uh so it's just harder and harder. And you know, and right here in Pearland, and you're seeing this in the 288 corridor as you move down the corridor from Pearland to Manville to Iowa Colony, that the cost of new homes, you know, is is no longer in the 100,000 to 200,000 range. It's you know, mid-300s, four hundreds, five hundreds and and more in a regular size neighborhood. And so, and then if you look at Pearland specific and you look at uh the the resale market, I mean, a home that was built, you know, 40 years ago for $60,000, $80,000 is being sold mid-threes.
SPEAKER_00Well, I think to that extent, I just recently sold my house and moved into a new house this past month or so. Uh house was built back in the mid to late 70s, and yeah, the price tag of it was $300,000. Right. Like you said, the resale it's great for homeowners reselling a home, right? But for first-time buyers, for you know, couples in a situation like Sarah and I are in, right, where we have a family of you know, of four kids and another on the
Why Homes Feel Out Of Reach
SPEAKER_00way, well, affordability is done.
SPEAKER_02And and I can bring some some expert witness, if you will, to this. Uh, you know, I've spent the last 26 years in in residential development of lots, subdivisions, and those types of things. So I understand the drivers behind it. And so, you know, today a starter home, the traditional starter home, is now on a 40-foot lot, okay, is now 40 foot by 110, 120, somewhere in that ballpark. And even that is gonna be pushing $300,000 for a finished product. And and so people are getting less for more. And so it's not just something that's happening, you know, right here locally. Uh it's happening across our state, and quite frankly, it's happening across the nation. Uh, I I can I'm gonna take a couple of minutes and share my reasons why. Okay, and what it is, is is the the cost of labor has gone up exponentially, and and you can go back and see what what has what has caused it. You can see the spikes. And what are some potential you know remedies for it. Number one, uh, if you go back to when Trump came into office, you know, in 2017, you know, after winning the 2016 election, you know, what did he do? He closed the border. And so what happened with that is cheap labor was coming across that border to build homes in Texas, build homes, you know, for us to live in. And well, that started drying up. I mean, that that went away. People weren't coming back and forth. He he he effectively, you know, um uh dried that up. Well, what happened in late 17? Harvey. So in Harvey, this is I'm speaking specifically locally. What happened in Harvey is that labor force went to remodels because insurance was paying that bill. Okay. You had you know, flood insurance and all the kind of stuff, all the floods that were happening as a result of Harvey, that was that was being done. And so that labor market went there as opposed to new builds. And when it got finished with running through Harvey and getting everything back to normal, that marketplace for framers and electricians and plumbers and everything else that were in those markets, they said, we're gonna keep our price tag where it is. We're not gonna lower back down. Okay. So as a result, labor cost on that side went up. Then you fast forward to 2020, and we have COVID. What happened with COVID? Supply chain killed it. What happened to lumber in Texas? It it was it was on the non-exempt list. So when that happened, remember lumber just going and getting a two by four at Lowe's or Home Depot or you know, O Days or wherever? What did what did that cost? Okay, it tripled in cost. And has it cost gone down since COVID? It it's come down, but it didn't come back down to pre-COVID. Right. Okay. So cost of material, cost of labor exponentially, you know, went up. And so that's real. Now, a potential fix for that, I think, I believe, now that uh President Trump is back in office, I think we need to have a very, very strong guest worker program for people in that industry that can be sponsored by the sub-companies that work for the DR Hortons and K Hubs and Beezers of the world. Uh there's only a handful of companies that do framing in the Houston area. Right. Most people don't know that. Right. But there's a very small number, okay. And so we need to bring that labor back in, but it needs to be a guest worker. So those companies need to be able to sponsor people, bring that labor in, and bring that labor cost back down. That's one of the things. Now, the the theory of supply and demand is at play as well. So in the nation right now, we are lagging about four million new starts. Part of that has been brought about because of affordability. Part of that affordability is um uh the the the cost of a mortgage, interest rates, what were interest rates af before COVID, during COVID. Remember, remember the sub-three percent interest rate that you could have? Iep. Um Your interest rate. My interest rate just doubled after one selling the house. Yeah. Right. So so that affected you in what you could purchase, right? And so that's happening in the marketplace too. So we're seeing uh I think you were able to get right at a a six percent interest rate. And so, you know, so there's a lot of people who used to be at three, they're kind of conditioned, they want to move to this, and now it's six. So that's having a that's having an effect in the marketplace. And so as a result, the supply and demand. The theory is you increase supply, right? Demand's there, you increase supply, that'll drive down cost. Well in theory, what's not taken into consideration when you have that is what's the cost of the land that's not going down. What's the cost of infrastructure that's not going down? So what's having to happen is shrinking the lots, making it smaller and smaller, putting more lots, spreading that cost of infrastructure, water, sewer, drainage, and detention, over more lots, not less lots, not larger lots, but more lots, smaller lots, bringing the lot cost down to where you can put a house on it and sell it. And unfortunately, even still doing that, you're talking about a $300,000 price tag. If you drive around the Houston area, you will see developments where they're advertising now in the low to mid-twos. Lenar is actually uh advertising in some of their subdivisions in the high ones. Okay. I mean, sounds good, but until what? Right. So you have to be careful what you're buying, right? And so again, this is starter home. This isn't meant for somebody's a forever home. It it's building that American dream and and doing things. And so in in those cases, it might be a a 25-foot lot. Okay. Now, so as a result of that, developers are trying to hit a marketplace, and now you have cities resisting
Labor And Materials Drive Prices
SPEAKER_02the marketplace trying to get to an affordability issue. There is an affordability gap. It's real. It's real in Pareland, it's real in Manville, Iowa Colony, Alvin, it's real in Houston. It's a it's real all over the nation. So somebody's trying to hit that affordability gap and fill that gap, and as a result, it's becoming harder and harder to get the zoning and everything else through with cities. Additionally, in in Texas, you've got a water issue as well. You don't have water in some cities. So I'm saying all that to say also where our growth is coming from. What's happening in Texas specifically, right? That's what we're talking about. Talk of the town and talk about our area. So in Texas, number one state to do business in for like 12 years running now. You've got tons and tons and tons of people moving here. I think we're at 1,500 people a day. Okay. And so all of that's coming in because the job growth is here. We're we're adding more jobs than any other state. In fact, most other states combined. We're adding more jobs in Texas. So that's what's happening here. So where is Texas going? What are we looking like? I'm going to be the bad news right now. I'm going to just deliver the bad news. State of Texas has about 31 million people living in it today. By 2050, that's 24 years out, we're going to be at about 47 million.
SPEAKER_00By the way, since you said that, isn't it crazy that we're closer to 2050 than we are 2000? Yep. Just throwing that out there. It's crazy.
SPEAKER_02That hurt. So, you know, that hurt. So what that means is um 16 million more people than we have today. We all know about the big triangle, Dallas Fort Worth, Santa Austin, Houston, and that big triangle. That triangle represents about 68 to 70 percent of the population that's in Texas today. It's going to represent about that same amount of population over the next twenty five years. Over the next twenty uh twenty-four years. So when you drill it down, it means the Houston area, okay, greater Houston area, eight to twelve counties, is going to add about four million people. Okay.
SPEAKER_00So what does that look like? To take the city of Los Angeles and dump it on Houston.
SPEAKER_02Correct. The city of Los Angeles proper, go Google it and look at it. It's right at four million people. Jeez. Picking it up over 24 years and setting it here. So your growth is going to be around the Beltway and the Grand Parkway.
SPEAKER_00Well, and we have the Grand Parkway going in now.
SPEAKER_02And the Grand Parkway. So that's where the growth is going. So where is Pearland in that? Where is Alvin, Bamble? Liverpool. Let's talk about Liverpool. So we're in the wake of that. We're in the path of that. And so that's why the growth is happening, and that's why the people are moving here. Let's not forget for a second that there are births that happen every year. I think it was two years ago in the greater Houston area, we had 100,000 births. They didn't move here. Right. They were born here. So when you take into that growth and kids, the birth rates are actually down, but the sheer volume of people is growing, even if the rate stays where it's at, it's increasing. It's still a large number of people. So all of that to say how do we do this? People have to live somewhere because we we don't want homeless. Right. Okay, so they have to live somewhere. So you see a marketplace of apartments, you see a marketplace of townhomes, again, smaller, trying to spread that cost over more and more units, but still have something that's affordable but nice for a community to be in. You have single family residential starting at 25, 30, 40 foot lots upwards to you know acreage. And then how does all that work? That's where we are.
SPEAKER_00So we so to uh let's go ahead and get into this then. What is the correct way to implement these these housing? We have if we need apartments, if we need townhomes, if we need uh high density residential, uh what is the best course of action in doing that? Now we we had a state or state legislature that passed two bills this past session. We have that route that's currently underway. Correct. And then we also have a more local approach, right, which allows your local city its zoning and for them to kind of make the decisions moving forward. So it's happening, but which way is better? Which way, what are the pros and cons of both? It's kind of I guess let's since we're talking about high density residential first, maybe let's dive into SB 15 first, um, which is uh Senate Bill 15 for the 89th legislature. Uh to it's called it has been known as the Tiny Lot Bill. Tiny Lot Bill, right? So in and their tiny lot means 4,000 square feet or less. That's the lot, not the house, the lot. So we can start there and just talk about the pros, the cons, the good, the bad, the ugly uh of SB 15.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so um I am always going to take the approach that local matters. That local control is just that. It needs to be local control, not state pushed, state controlled, federal controlled. It needs to be local controlled. And so I'm with you on that. So before we get into 15, to answer your question, the approach needs to be the local entity, whether it's the city of Parliament or the city of Iowa Colony or Alvin or the city of Houston or Friendswood, doesn't matter. They need to be in control of who, what, and where they want to be one day. Okay. They're a city, they're they're they're controlled by local city councils, and they need to have the ability to say, this is what type of city we want to be one day, and then go and do that. So
Interest Rates Plus Shrinking Lots
SPEAKER_02do you want to be a zoned city? Do you not want to have zoning? What do you want from your development standards? That needs to be delivered and derived by the local people saying this is what we want to be to their officials. Well, and then moving that forward.
SPEAKER_00In order to be a zoned city, you have to take that to your voting of the people. So if if well, it was voted on by the citizens of Parland, Pairland specifically. So if we're talking about a state trying to enact this bill, wouldn't that be in direct?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so that it's it's circumventing the will of the voters. It's circumventing the will of the people in in in our locale. And so specifically then to SB 15, which is the tiny lot bill, and it and it changed towards the end of the legislative session. It started out as minimum all the way down to a 20-foot lot. Okay. And and you so, which means with five-foot side yard setbacks, that's a 10-foot wide house. So I can touch the house. So, real quick, okay. Raul, uh I I think we have a picture. I sent you a graphic. And and so you you see right there, that is a house that is sitting on a 20-foot lot. That is actually a subdivision in San Antonio. That's not made up. That that's physically on the ground today in San Antonio. That is a 10-foot wide house. It has one door, and that's the front door. It has a handful of windows in the front and on the sides, and nothing in the back. And so that house is approximately 400 square feet and it's two-story. So think about your garage all laid out. That's what that is. And so this tiny lot legislation is what it's attempting to do is push all of the rules and regulations of the local communities out of the way. Now, who does it apply to? Yes, I think that's key in understanding who's key in understanding that it's not just every city or county. It it's targeted at cities, it's targeted at cities that are 150,000 in population in a county of 300,000 in population.
SPEAKER_00Which which we currently, no city in Brazoria County is there. However, you know, we're looking at the next census of the City of Fairland very well should be at that 150 mark.
SPEAKER_02Approximate is about 138,000 today, with the growth of single family around us uh down in the um uh Massy Oaks area and all of that, we very easily could be at 150 at 2030, four years from now. And so because of that, the the city and our city council and our mayor and our staff are trying to figure out do we embrace certain things on the development front today so we shape what's happening. So you have a say in it. So we have a say in it versus the way these bills come down, we z we uh literally have no say. So where can this tiny lot legislation occur? It can occur on any uh residential type track in the city that's five acres or more, okay, that is unplatted. It's unplatted. So if you look at most of our five acres or more done the math on this, developed that that's out there, when you look at it, we have approximately sixteen hundred to seventeen hundred acres in the city that this would apply to. And if you legitimately applied the entire density that it would create, not saying that every single developer would build that.
SPEAKER_00We're not saying every landowner will will sell off to this. We're not saying that. But as a city, you have to plan for the greatest possible impacts.
SPEAKER_02So you have to plan for water, you have to plan for sewer, you have to plan for roadways, you have to plan for all those kinds of things. 28,000 lots.
SPEAKER_00So 28,000 lots. The national average is what, three and a half per home. So do the math. 28,000 times 3.5, it's another 100,000 people.
SPEAKER_01Right.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_00I mean, that that's what this bill does to our city.
SPEAKER_02And and zero say so by the local city, zero say so by the neighbors. So the way the zoning works right now, if somebody had five acres, ten acres next door to you or around the corner from you, and they wanted to come in and do a tiny lot subdivision, it would require before this, it would require a planned development and zoning through the city. You'd have notifications, you'd have public hearings, you would have all of that kind of thing that goes on with council, with the public, with planning and zoning commission. And the public and the neighbors weighing in. Post going at 150, zero say by the city.
SPEAKER_00Zero say breaks ground one day.
SPEAKER_02It just all of a sudden it happens. And there are some rules
Texas Growth And The 288 Corridor
SPEAKER_02and regulations within it, but it's very bare minimum. No garages. Right. Okay. Five foot side yard setback, ten foot front setback. So you're talking about where do you park? Yeah. How do you improve the roads? How do you do any of that? The only exception to this is if we don't have water. So if we don't have water to deliver them, we can actually say no. And so it it it it would be detrimental to our city, it would be detrimental to who we are. Now, doesn't mean that I go back to early when we started this episode, we talked about we're gonna have to shrink our lots, we're gonna have to do these kind of things and bring in certain types of building systems that make sense. But it needs to be what we look at and want, not what's just forced on us by the state. Right. That's single family.
SPEAKER_00So I I was just kind of going, I have the bill pulled up in front of me and I'm kind. Going through some of the requirements that you're talking about. And I was going to read off a few of them. You said a couple of them. But here's some of the some of the things. So it's 15 feet from the front or 10 feet from the back of the property line or five feet from the side of the property. We talked about that. Covered covered parking. So no more than one parking space per unit. And there's no offsite parking. Required. And then off-site parking. So where are the so if you have a family, you have a teenager at home, where where's all those cars going? In a street. Right. Right. Let's talk, you know, we talk about emergencies, right? With a big our big fire trucks and whatnot get down. That's causing bottlenecks. So there's more than just the density aspect of it. You gotta think about the emergency aspect of it too.
SPEAKER_02Um now I will say I want to I wanna I want to plug our one of our uh state representatives, Jeff Barry, for a second.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So Jeff's very first session, uh, the 89th legislative session, um, he fought this bill. He did. Uh he fought this bill on our behalf. Uh I can tell you as mayor, I'm I made the trip to Austin on numerous occasions to talk specifically about this one in the in the multifamily bill. And I had the opportunity to sit with uh the legislature that filed this bill in the House, Gary Gates, he's over in the in the Fort Bend County Ful uh Fulshi area living. And I will tell you, um, he didn't even know the impacts that his bill was going to occur on local entities. Like even more frightening is he didn't care. He absolutely did not care about the local interest, local control. And so, tongue in cheek, I actually looked at him and said, Well, Representative Gates, uh, we're gonna require something. I don't really care what your bill has to say. And if it comes in and it's built, I'm gonna require a sign be put in front of it that this development is being brought to you by SB 815, and here is Gary Gates' cell phone number. Well, and boy, he didn't like that. But I said, but I told him, I said, why are the locals gonna take the hit for your bill? For your bill. When they didn't ask for that.
SPEAKER_00And and uh the 150 threshold wasn't the original threshold on the bill.
SPEAKER_02No, it was ninety.
SPEAKER_00It was ninety. So because we would have already been because of your efforts and because of Jeff's efforts talking with Gates, we're able to get that threshold to to 150, which means we have a little bit of time to kind of think about this before it actually hits.
SPEAKER_02We we were pushing it to 200. We wanted 200 to 250, right. And and we just couldn't get it there, so we had to accept what we could get. Um so you know, at the same time, we've been told through the grapevine that if any attempt to increase this in the next session or next year to either two or two fifty, anything above, that it may open up Perandor's box to drop it.
SPEAKER_00So retribution. Correct. Okay. So what I will say is So we have to be careful. We have to be careful, but I think it's very important for the residents that live in Brizzouria County know that they gotta talk to their state leaders. This is this is this is a local issue, sure, because but your local representatives, your mayors, your councils are fighting this on the front line.
SPEAKER_02We want local control.
SPEAKER_00And we want local control. It's not a it's not a power graph. It is 100% putting it back into people people's hands when they do that.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00Now that's just the the small lot, tiny home. Then we have this other bill, SB 840, right, which directly goes to commercial zones and apartments.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so so the way it it's structured just like SB 15, except it's tied to apartments and and mixed-use development. And so again, it's at 150. It started at 665,000. Right. And we were able to get it to 150. I will tell you, the city of League City um helped with this bill as well. And we were able to get it to 150, same thing, trying to push and get it higher. We've been told may go back to 65,000. So the way this bill is structured, just like the the single-family residential one, is any uh business-zoned property, I think the only exception is industrial. I believe you're right. Um, is is would be by right. This would be allowed to happen. So if you go and look at the city of Pearlland, so empty acreage along Broadway, empty acreage along 35 Main Street, any acreage on frontage of 288, any acreage that's zoned commercial or general business or anything like that, up and down MCA or any of our major arteries like this, uh automatically, day one, would be open to this. I asked our uh head of community development where all the development comes through at the city of Parland, as this bill was working its way through the legislature. Uh, I asked, I said, if this were to pass today and we were in it, what would happen? And his response was we would have ten applications on our door the next day. Not shocking.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Ten. Ten. Not shocking at all.
SPEAKER_02And zero say and how it looks. So let's talk about that. That's about that's recently. So recently, we've had a uh an apartment zoning request um on Magnolia and 1128.
SB 15 Tiny Lots And Local Control
SPEAKER_02There's a current complex that sits there now. So your reference, right? The delta sits there now. So we're talking about the sh the the tract across the street, which is 15 acres. And they came in and so far we have denied them because of the outcry of people in our community about more apartments. So let's compare what they asked for in their application and being able and being able to work with them on getting that done versus what they could do by right in just a few days. In just a few years. Okay. So what they uh proposed was three stories they under this bill could go to four.
SPEAKER_00And on top of that, so when you talk about four, then the question of sight line comes up. So I believe this bill does not have a necessarily has a required setback, sure, but it's much closer to residential proper line.
SPEAKER_02So in working with the developer, we could require a farther setback from the existing residential. We could require a lower height than than than what this bill would allow. And then I believe that bill, excuse me, I believe what was proposed was somewhere in the 330 range. So 330 divided by 15 was 22 units to the acre.
SPEAKER_00So it's being proposed at 22 units to the acre, where your bill says up to 36 units per acre.
SPEAKER_02Which would be 540 units on this tractable land.
SPEAKER_00So your current applicant is about roughly 200 or so less.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_00That's because that's the city's require like required.
SPEAKER_02That's that's how we're negotiating and getting a better deal. And we we typically don't want in our in our city a typical garden style apartment. Okay, we want more of a uh urban feel of uh of uh urban wrap. If you go out on 288 and you see the ivy lofts, that's our first structured parking where everything is built around. And so if you go across the street and look at the Delta, it's technically a garden apartment with an with a mid-rise feel. So if you see everything facing uh Magnolia, for example, there's no doors, there's no walk-ups, there's no stairs that you can see from that. It's all internal. It's all internal, which is what a uh an urban or mid-rise feel does. Okay. I think we did allow some four stories there because of the the mass up front. If you'll also notice, all of the parking is pushed to the back, so you don't technically see the parking along the uh Magnolia Parkway. So that was all push and shove and and and negotiating with the developers and getting to a product that was appealing. All of that's out the door with SB 840. And you know, and so you know, it it at some levels the developer may come back and just say, hey, I'm just gonna sit on this for four years. As soon as the legislation happens, I'm just gonna go do and what I want to do.
SPEAKER_00Well, and and right now you you as uh as a council, you can negotiate amenities. Well, this bill doesn't require them. Like so there's you as a council, we can or they could uh so an amenity would be like clubhouse. Clubhouse pools pools, you know, open space, open space parks, parks, those types of things. Well, council can also help and require um landscaping. Right. I I don't think there's much of a requirement, if any, buffer of landscaping in this bill.
SPEAKER_02Correct.
SPEAKER_00So you have there's there's zone changes and CUP is there for a reason. Correct. And this circumvents all of those reasons. Right. Uh so it goes so when you're talking about let's talk about the public outcry that you mentioned. Um you know, with residents showing up and and and demanding no apartments, we understand that. We get that. Yeah. But they also have to understand and look at the possibility of what could happen in just a few short years.
SPEAKER_02Well, in addition to that, so let's dispel some of the backlash of what we hear. Okay. Um this is gonna add a ton of kids to Parliament ISD or Alvin ISD. It's gonna, it's gonna add more kids to an already stressed system. Um so I I will tell you, I understand the development community, understand what drives and has more kids than less kids. So when you start getting into three-bedroom and four-bedroom apartments, that's when you're driving more children into the school system. If you have single bedroom and two-bedroom for your bulk, uh, that's not driving more kids. It's a smaller unit, you just don't have the kids that are that are living there, uh, especially on a single bedroom. So if you go and look at the Delta, we use that one as one of the most recent. Um, you know, that that that complex and that that development is for the most part single. Um they have some efficiencies.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02They have single bedroom, and they have so a lot of single, a lot of double, and less than 10 percent is three bedroom. Three bedroom. And so the number of kids that they're sending to Parallel and ISD is about 30. Is about 30 total out of some 350, 360 units that are in there existing. Okay. At the same time, Parland ISD is actually dropping enrollment. Most school districts, other than Alvin and and Angleton, because of the growth that's going on there, are actually shrinking in size. Most school districts are shrinking in size.
SPEAKER_00In fact, so the school district needs to develop.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So Fort Bend ISD just recently announced they are closing seven schools or six. Six or seven schools because of the lower enrollment in their district. Okay. And so Parliament ISD is seeing a smaller kindergarten classes than their graduating
SB 840 Apartments By Right
SPEAKER_02classes right now. So they actually need the kids. And I'm not saying we go build apartments so for their needs.
SPEAKER_00No, I think it's I need I think we need to be very clear. We're not advocating for or against. We're just simply presenting the facts in front of us.
SPEAKER_02And so the other thing that's fact is I hear all the time, well, we don't want Section 8 housing. That apartments automatically bring Section 8 housing. I hear that too. Okay. And and the answer to that is no, it doesn't, because Section 8 requires a vote of counsel. So all of these apartments that have been proposed to date are market rent. They're paying what the market is bearing. And so I'll tell you, the highest market rent in town right now is the Delta and Ivy Lofts out off of the uh the freeway, and they're over two bucks a foot. Okay, over two bucks a foot per month. So take uh take an apartment that's I don't know, um eight hundred square feet times two bucks, that's sixteen hundred dollar rent. Okay. And so you know, you can you can get close to buying a house at that. Okay. And so a lot of the market rents, there we're seeing market rents in some units upwards of two thousand. Oh.
SPEAKER_00Uh and more, right, as we see it. Right. And so, and of course we hear uh public outcry um because of it, and then and as I mentioned, it's really important for them to understand all aspects of it. But then how for those who are just absolutely against no more building, no more development, there's really one way to stop that.
SPEAKER_02So it's good. This goes back to uh property rights. So if you own a piece of property at some level, you should have a right to develop it. Right? I mean, if it's an empty piece of property, you should have a right to go do that. We have zoning in Pairland, so you don't necessarily have a right to change zoning, but you do have a right to develop your property. So there's where private property rights and zoning and everything else mesh together. It's very, very difficult. But if you see a piece of property and you don't i ever want anything on it, you gotta own it. So go buy it. Or who has to own it? The city does. Yeah, the city does. The city does. Now, uh so my philosophy on that. If the government owns all the land, that's one of the definitions of socialism. True. Okay, and and and and I I am in no shape, form, or passionate for it, advocating for socialism. But when people say, well, I just don't want anything ever built there, well, you have to own it, or the government has to own it.
SPEAKER_00So if I'm not saying we're gonna do this, but I'm big, big if if we're if the city were to go and own the rest of the undeveloped land in the city of Pearl Land, roughly, what do you think that would cost?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So I've done the math on this and just giving some some conservative estimates on the price of land, uh, somewhere between $700 and $800 million to buy up all the land, which means your taxpayers would have to foot that bill to buy all that. And I think that I think it it just goes to show that's not going to happen. But that's what it would take to cut all development off. And so we we even get, you know, the city gets gets pushed back on even commercial development, industrial development, all the development that's going up off the beltway and creating jobs and primary jobs. Off of 35 right now. Off of 35 right now. And so so there's this push and pull. We just don't want anymore. So remember, we set this whole thing up with people are moving here. People are bringing their lives, they're uprooting around the country. People are being born and adding children, and and so they need more places or bigger places to live. So all of that is happening, and how do we put all of this in this
School Myths Section 8 And Property Rights
SPEAKER_02bowl and mix it all together and create some place that we can call home one day? I mean, it's important that we have this conversation. So it's real important, and I'm absolutely uh in favor of our city and our mayor and our council coming together and saying, number one, kind of what do we want? But number two, our elected officials need to be educating the public just like we're doing here. So at this town hall that's coming up, the goal is to also educate. Yes, we need to listen to people when they say no, we don't want it. Okay. I will say, be careful what you ask for, though. Be careful what we ask for, because if we do nothing, in a few years, we get SB 15 and SB 840. I'll I'll say this.
SPEAKER_00It's crazy that so many people are pro and pro-property rights until something's being developed next to them.
SPEAKER_02That is so true. It happens all the time. And and you've you've heard you've heard the NIMBY, not in my backyard. And so we we have that alive and well in Paralleland, uh, and we need to continue to have dialogue. I think it's important that we have dialogue, but there needs to be a reasonable approach. If if you own a piece of property, you have a right to do something with that property other than just pay taxes on vacant land.
SPEAKER_00At the same time, Well, and and I will say if the city did own it, that that land is now is now not being taxed. Taxed.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00So what what happens to the tax rate?
SPEAKER_02Well, and and if you're you're if you're talking it's $700 or $800 million to buy up all the land. And then you still have to buy the land on top of that. You're you're talking doubling your tax rate.
SPEAKER_00So I I I hope this was educational to those that are watching. Yeah. Uh, you know, we're are we advocating for one way or the other? No. But I think it's important for them to do that.
SPEAKER_02And I'll say this this this topic is very difficult to navigate. It's very difficult because there's so much emotion in it. And nothing will be solved with one conversation, either.
SPEAKER_00Or one town hall. Or one town hall. No. So I hope this kind of spurs on more conversations with not only our local mayor and council, but our representatives, our state, senators, uh, and others, because this is not an issue that's gonna go away anytime soon.
SPEAKER_02And so, you know, moving forward, uh, you know, we're now four episodes in to talk of the town. I hope it's been entertaining. I hope it's been good uh educational content for you. You can see kind of where we want to move, but we want to move away from Pearland for just a second. Yep.
SPEAKER_00And we will next month is gonna be very fun, I would say. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Having we want to have discussions and having discussions with our area mayors, bringing them in, and let's talk about what's good and challenging in those communities so we can educate on what's the topics of the day in the in the local communities as well. What's the talk of their town?
Next Steps Town Hall And What’s Next
SPEAKER_02Right.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. Well, that was a lot of information for for today. I know uh these can get quite um we can we can lose track of what we're talking about. We're talking about uh housing. It's a big issue that needs to be that needs to keep on um being had. So for those that are watching, I hope that you guys can uh you know let us know in the comments just what questions you may have. Maybe we'll bring them up in some time. We do appreciate you guys sticking around with for the first month of these podcasts. As you mentioned, we're gonna get away from Parreland, moving into the month of August with some area mayors. So stay tuned for the month of August. Uh stay tuned for who we might bring on. You never know who might show up on our show. So uh with that, we'll just this is the Talk of the Town podcast with local leaders, local stories, and local impact. You guys have a good one.