The state House passed House Bill 24 as part of a larger effort to tackle the housing shortage. It might not look like much at first glance—just a tweak to an old zoning law—but it could make a big difference. The bill updates a provision that’s been on the books for nearly 100 years, one that let just 20% of nearby property owners derail a rezoning unless a supermajority of the city council voted to override it.
That kind of veto power is a gift to NIMBYs and a roadblock to housing. HB 24 doesn’t eliminate local voices—it just makes them proportionate. Now it’ll take 60% of adjacent owners to trigger that same veto power, and councils can proceed with a simple majority vote. Maybe most importantly, the bill makes clear that this protest rule can’t be used to block broader, citywide zoning changes.
Opponents say it silences neighborhoods. But let’s be honest: what it really does is end the practice of letting a few vocal property owners stop everyone else from solving the housing crisis. Local councils still call the shots—it’s just that now, majority rule actually means something. As the Dallas Morning News put it, this is a long-overdue fix for an outdated landowner veto.
And it’s not a moment too soon. Texas is short more than 320,000 homes. Median home prices are up nearly 45% since 2019. In San Antonio, a plan to allow mixed-income housing along a transit corridor was killed last year by a successful protest petition. That was framed as a neighborhood win, but let’s be clear: it wasn’t a win for affordability or for equity.
What makes HB 24 especially smart is that it avoids the usual top-down mandates. Unlike the controversial “Death Star” bill from a previous session, this one doesn’t take power away from cities—it gives it back to local elected officials by limiting the ability of a small minority to stall needed change. That’s good governance. And the bill didn’t squeak through: it passed the House with broad support, including from Speaker Dustin Burrows and the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
No law is going to fix the housing crisis overnight. But HB 24 is a step in the right direction—back to the basics. It lets people build homes where there’s already demand. That’s what infill development is all about. And it’s something city leaders should be eager to support—not by writing checks or cutting sweetheart deals, but by simply getting out of the way.
Other cities should pay attention. The trade-offs are real, but so is the opportunity.
