Lawmakers in the Lone Star State want to make converting vacant office and commercial space into residential dwellings easier.
Sen. Bryan Hughes (R-Mineola) introduced a bill that would enable struggling property owners to convert office space into residential living. If passed, the bill would prohibit cities and counties from requiring commercial properties and office buildings to be rezoned before turning them into condos or apartments.
As previously reported in The Dallas Express, office-to-apartment conversions saw a surge in demand following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. With people increasingly working from home, companies had less need to rent often costly office space.
For example, Adolfson & Peterson Construction recently announced the completion of the $40 million overhaul of Santander Tower in downtown Dallas. Dallas-based owner Pacific Elm Properties converted the 50-story office skyscraper into a mixed-use space, complete with retail, restaurants, and residential units.
The latest effort to ease the conversion burden comes in response to the state’s severe housing shortage. Lawmakers hope the proposal will help boost housing construction and lower Texas housing prices and rents.
“It’s a simple matter of looking at the housing stock that’s available and looking at the growing demand, and looking at every option to expand those opportunities,” Hughes said in an interview, per The Texas Tribune. “The Lord’s not making new land.”
The Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University says that over half of the state’s renters are considered cost-burdened, meaning they spend at least 30% of their income on rent.
A study released in November last year ranked Dallas-Fort Worth as the 22nd most expensive rental market in the United States.
While state lawmakers may be pushing to ease restrictions, not all local officials are on board. In Georgetown, a suburb of Austin, Mayor Josh Schroeder said zoning decisions should be made locally.
“To do it on this macro level that doesn’t take into consideration the differences between Georgetown, Austin and Littlefield is not the way to handle land use,” Schroeder said, per The Texas Tribune.