“This bill is designed to help the average Texan achieve the dream of homeownership,” bill sponsor Rep. Gary Gates, R-Richmond, said before House lawmakers approved the final bill on June 1.
Under Senate Bill 15, large Texas cities would be prohibited from requiring that homes in new neighborhoods be built on more than 3,000 square feet of land. Proponents of SB 15 said it would help more Texans purchase homes by increasing housing stock, while some lawmakers expressed concerns that the bill would take local control away from cities.
State senators unanimously passed the final bill on May 31. SB 15 passed the House in a 78-57 vote June 1 despite some opposition from both sides of the aisle.
The governor has until June 22 to sign or veto hundreds of bills, and those that he takes no action on will automatically become law. As of June 9, Abbott had signed 308 of the 1,210 bills sent to his desk and vetoed two, according to the state Legislative Reference Library.
What you need to know
Texas’ population growth has outpaced homebuilding since 2020, resulting in a widespread housing shortage, the state comptroller’s office reported in August. Up For Growth, a national housing policy organization, estimated in 2023 that Texas needs about 306,000 more homes to meet demand.
In response, state lawmakers also passed House Bill 24, which seeks to limit landowners’ ability to stall or stop new housing development projects, and SB 840, which would allow residential and mixed-used properties to be built on land zoned for commercial use. Both proposals were sent to the governor in late May.
“The cost to build versus what the average Texas family can afford has never been wider, and it's growing. ... Starter homes that used to be very accessible and abundant, they're no longer there, and it's heartbreaking,” Greg Anderson, director of community affairs for Austin Habitat for Humanity, told senators during a March committee hearing.
SB 15 would apply to cities with at least 150,000 residents located in counties with populations of at least 300,000—including parts of Harris, Dallas, Tarrant, Bexar, Travis, Collin, Denton, Fort Bend, Montgomery and Williamson counties.
Those cities would not be allowed to require that residential lots be larger than 3,000 square feet, wider than 30 feet or deeper than 75 feet, according to the bill. The regulations would apply only to land larger than five acres that has not been mapped or platted, such as new neighborhoods.
More details
A previous version of SB 15 would have allowed single-family homes to be built on lots as small as 1,400 square feet, which bill author Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, said mirrored regulations adopted by the city of Houston in 2013.
If SB 15 becomes law, it would not impact cities such as Houston or Austin. The capital city began allowing residents to build single-family homes on lots as small as 1,800 square feet in 2024.
Gates told House members May 27 that while SB 15 would limit large cities’ zoning authority, landowners and developers would have more freedom.
“If a developer wants to build on a bigger lot, nothing stops them from doing that,” he said. “It's not mandating that a lot be that size.”
Gates’ hometown of Richmond, which had about 13,000 residents in July, would not be impacted by SB 15.
The debate
Some House lawmakers expressed concerns that SB 15 would limit cities’ authority to control local zoning.
Rep. Ramon Romero, D-Fort Worth, said June 1 that developers in the nearby city of Frisco can typically build single-family homes on lots 7,000 square feet or larger, meaning that “these lots are now going to [have] three homes where there was one.”
Romero pushed back against arguments that the legislation would help drive down housing prices in large cities.
“There’s nothing in this bill that says it has to be affordable,” he said on the House floor. “Simply an idea or a belief that because the developer saved money on the dirt, that he or she’s gonna pass that on to the homeowner—I will tell you that it’s not gonna happen.”
Gates said May 27 that he hoped SB 15 would make housing more accessible, particularly for younger Texans.
“We're becoming a nation and a state of renters,” Gates said. “We do have a housing affordability crisis, and one of the biggest costs of housing is the cost of land. ... By reducing the lot size, not only does it reduce the cost of housing, but you have lower-cost electricity, you have lower usage of water.”
Rep. Tony Tinderholt, R-Arlington, told House members May 27 that he felt it was important to allow local officials to determine what is best for their communities.
“I don't want to take away the ability for my city and the people in this city to be able to control the size of the lots and the homes that are put there,” he said. “I think it's really important that we think for a moment about what we do up here at the Capitol and how much local control we take away from the local elected officials.”
