By: Travis McGee All across our city we often hear the term “Affordable Housing” and you also see so- called affordable hous- ing projects thrown up overnight. Affordable means a lot of different things to a lot of differ- ent people. To the Haves it means that they could afford to build, invest in, and even pay the mortgage, if need be, but to the HAVE NOTS it means it has been the largest part of the budget which includes mortgage/rent, taxes, insurance(s), groceries, transportation, a family, and overall cost of living. This irresponsible construction is called Gentrification, but it’s the kind that’s on steroids due to very bad ordinance written by our City Council. All underserved, under developed, poor communities that set below the poverty level are all experiencing the same thing. ThThe passage of Chapter 42 Ordinance in 2013 by a vote of 14-3 on Houston City Council made this type of Unaffordable development legal. What is Chapter 42, you may ask? Well, it basically decreases the minimum lot size to build on and allows developers to replat one residential lots into multiple sections /lots to build multiple structures on that one lot. NOTE: If they combine two or more of the said lots that property can become another whole subdivision within an already pre-existing subdivision. This ordinance was said to be used to increase the density here in the city of Houston (basically to fit more people) here by any means necessary. Even if that means putting $2,000,000.00 worth of property up to 75 ft high next to traditional single family 1 story dwellings on top of a prehistoric $2.00 infrastructure system. The ordinance only benefits the city through tax revenue and fees as well as the developers through unaffordable housing and landgrabs. You would think the ordinances would protect the residents / taxpayers, but it doesn’t. It really doesn’t matter if you have deed restrictions or not if the city is issuing the permits and approving the construction. You are extremely lucky if you get a variance/ notice of construction these days. Once the city writes […]
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