3 ms·

> Houston has no zoning code Too many and too restrictive building codes are bad, but no codes? Yikes.

Forgeties79 1y ago
I lived in Houston for six months and I don’t understand anybody who would ever use it as a model for any city in any capacity unless they love endless interstate construction and taking 60-90 minutes to get anywhere. “Sprawling mess” doesn’t even begin to cover it.
- akgoel 1y ago
  Yes, it takes me 60 minutes to go 45 miles when I cross the extremes of the city. Oh noes! How far does the red line go in Boston and how long does that take?
  - codyb 1y ago
    I think the better question is general walkability. The extremes is a pretty weird trip to do comparisons of since most people go from the outskirts into the centers to work and play and then go back to the outskirts. The question becomes... once you get to your destination, can you get anywhere else without having to hop back into the car? In cities like NY or Boston you can ride into town, hit a restaurant, go to the show, grab a few drinks then hit the clubs all without getting back into your car or just by taking short stints on readily available public transportation or taxis. Can you have that same experience in Houston? I don't really know. Maybe. Where I'm from it's not concentrated like that so you go to your friends house... then you get in a car and go down to the bars... then you get in the car again to go to the arena for the show. Everything's very dispersed. I personally like that much less.
    - vel0city 1y ago
      You can have that experience in Houston, but most of "Houston" isn't like that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fMTaNYYvwE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fMTaNYYvwE
- aprilthird2021 1y ago
  > I don’t understand anybody who would ever use it as a model for any city in any capacity They spent far less to basically completely solve their street homelessness problem compared to "model" cities like SF, so...
  - wswope 1y ago
    Speaking as a born and raised Houstonian, that’s a completely delusional claim — and you’re believing it credulously because it fulfills a narrative that appeals to your preconceived notions. This article is the spitting definition of drawing a bullseye around an arrow. Houston’s secret sauce of preventing mass encampments is a combo of sprawl and police brutality. There aren’t as many dense areas to congregate compared to CA, and there are more places to hide away or squat to avoid notice. Enjoy your flavoraid though.
    - bz_bz_bz 1y ago
      Does being born and raised in Houston make you an expert on homelessness? It's interesting you are so quick to rebuke the article with sweeping generalizations and zero data. Could it be because it does not appeal to your preconceived notions? Houston was one of the first major cities to transfer chronically homeless individuals from encampments to one-bedroom apartments with almost zero friction (no intermediate shelters, no drug testing, no requirement to find a job). This was a highly successful program under Turner that had little to do with sprawl or police brutality.
    - aprilthird2021 1y ago
      The bay area has sprawl and has been embracing police brutality on this issue, and homelessness is not improving here. If that worked, they would try it here.
    - Forgeties79 1y ago
      The police in my city regularly go through and rip apart encampments and scatter everybody to the wind. It literally solves nothing. I also find it pretty horrifying for someone to actively advocate for “police brutality.” By definition it is immoral and should not be desired. You can’t even be bothered to say “strong policing“ and pretend you don’t want law enforcement to abuse people who already have enough problems? You actively want them going out and hurting people? Please correct me if I’m wrong because it really comes across that way.
- bob1029 1y ago
  The sprawling mess of Houston has ostensibly contributed to its very low housing costs. A lot of the other problems in the area begin to melt away when everything is ridiculously affordable. The golden path is to live in the Houston area while working remotely. This helps you to avoid the worst aspect of the region while maximizing the best aspects. A million dollars buys you an incredible length of runway in the Houston market. You could buy a very high end home in the woodlands in cash, put a Porsche in the garage, and still have enough to go for a decade before you had to find a source of income again.
  - Forgeties79 1y ago
    What you are proposing is far out of reach for most Americans. “Put together a million dollars” and “work remotely”? The biggest employer in Houston by a huge margin is the oil and gas industry - most of those jobs are not going to be remote and a lot of those jobs are not a pathway to $1 million. What about people who work in hospitality, roughly 10% of the workforce? You’re describing this as relatively simple/achievable but for a lot of people it simply isn’t. Houston has one of the highest poverty rates in the country with 1 in 5 living below the poverty line - https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/houston/2025/09/12/530735/houston-has-the-highest-poverty-rate-among-the-biggest-cities-in-the-u-s-new-data-find/ https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/houston/202...
    - bob1029 1y ago
      > The biggest employer in Houston It seems that we have different definitions of "remote".
      - Forgeties79 1y ago
        I am talking about what jobs people in Houston actually have as well as the socio-economic realities of the city. “Just get a remote job and make $1 million“ is not serious advice.
superxpro12 1y ago
[flagged]
- knowaveragejoe 1y ago
  That's not what a zoning code does.
- dylan604 1y ago
  Meh, that's not a problem when you've been allowed to build in a flood zone.
akgoel 1y ago
It’s not quite true that we have no codes, but you wouldn’t come here and find some hell hole of mixed industrial and residential. Land prices really do dictate use.
- staticautomatic 1y ago
  You mean like the million dollar McMansions on the same block as a gas station, across the street from an office high rise? I think you’re over-estimating the effect of land prices.
  - Yizahi 1y ago
    What's the problem with gas station (provided it keeps mandatory distance from the buildings) or the office building near the residential ones? In fact, close offices are often cited as a pros for certain locations, people are even trying to rent as close as they can in some cities. PS: I've lived the whole last year approximately 100m away from both gas station and large office complex. Neither bothered me at all, and it was a first floor.
- vel0city 1y ago
  Maybe inside the loop, but go to Channelview or Deer Park or Baytown or La Porte or League City or even Webster. Go take a look around the Nasa Bypass and Gulf Freeway. You've got apartments, a Great Wolf Lodge, an oil pipeline holding station, and single family homes all right next to each other all right on top of the creek. The parks I used to play at had active oil and gas wells right next to them. My neighborhood growing up had a big, straight greenbelt that bisected the neighborhood due to the abundance of buried gas lines in between.
  - Psillisp 1y ago
    The loop will not save you
- Psillisp 1y ago
  Have you been on Houston Avenue? It is an unwalkable hell hole. It literally goes townhouses, lumber yard, liquor store, train track, townhouses, bail bonds, Chevy dealership with limited sidewalks.
jotux 1y ago
>> Houston has no zoning code >Too many and too restrictive building codes are bad, but no codes? Yikes You're confusing zoning codes (what land can be used for what type of structure, e.g., industrial and residential) and building codes (the rules for safely constructing a building).
rtkwe 1y ago
Zoning code != building codes. Zoning deals with the types of buildings/uses that can be built in an area not the requirements for safety like electrical or structural building codes. It's definitely a mixed bag though, zoning keeps industrial uses away from residential which is good for pollution and noise reasons but it also restricts building dense housing in areas zoned single family. I'm always dubious about explanations that don't account for the fact that the weather in many California towns are more pleasant and survivable year round compared to Texas. Or that locations like SF are quite space constrained when it comes to new housing so new projects generally have to displace some current use making the process harder.
digianarchist 1y ago
California has passed SB79 which is a minor step forward. The opposition it received was pretty high for such a limited Bill. I don't have a huge amount of faith CA will get housing costs under control but doing so is clearly one of the prerequisites to get a handle on the homelessness crisis. https://cayimby.org/legislation/sb-79/ https://cayimby.org/legislation/sb-79/

I lived in Houston for six months and I don’t understand anybody who would ever use it as a model for any city in any capacity unless they love endless interstate construction and taking 60-90 minutes to get anywhere. “Sprawling mess” doesn’t even begin to cover it.

akgoel 1y ago
Yes, it takes me 60 minutes to go 45 miles when I cross the extremes of the city. Oh noes! How far does the red line go in Boston and how long does that take?
- codyb 1y ago
  I think the better question is general walkability. The extremes is a pretty weird trip to do comparisons of since most people go from the outskirts into the centers to work and play and then go back to the outskirts. The question becomes... once you get to your destination, can you get anywhere else without having to hop back into the car? In cities like NY or Boston you can ride into town, hit a restaurant, go to the show, grab a few drinks then hit the clubs all without getting back into your car or just by taking short stints on readily available public transportation or taxis. Can you have that same experience in Houston? I don't really know. Maybe. Where I'm from it's not concentrated like that so you go to your friends house... then you get in a car and go down to the bars... then you get in the car again to go to the arena for the show. Everything's very dispersed. I personally like that much less.
  - vel0city 1y ago
    You can have that experience in Houston, but most of "Houston" isn't like that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fMTaNYYvwE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fMTaNYYvwE
aprilthird2021 1y ago
> I don’t understand anybody who would ever use it as a model for any city in any capacity They spent far less to basically completely solve their street homelessness problem compared to "model" cities like SF, so...
- wswope 1y ago
  Speaking as a born and raised Houstonian, that’s a completely delusional claim — and you’re believing it credulously because it fulfills a narrative that appeals to your preconceived notions. This article is the spitting definition of drawing a bullseye around an arrow. Houston’s secret sauce of preventing mass encampments is a combo of sprawl and police brutality. There aren’t as many dense areas to congregate compared to CA, and there are more places to hide away or squat to avoid notice. Enjoy your flavoraid though.
  - bz_bz_bz 1y ago
    Does being born and raised in Houston make you an expert on homelessness? It's interesting you are so quick to rebuke the article with sweeping generalizations and zero data. Could it be because it does not appeal to your preconceived notions? Houston was one of the first major cities to transfer chronically homeless individuals from encampments to one-bedroom apartments with almost zero friction (no intermediate shelters, no drug testing, no requirement to find a job). This was a highly successful program under Turner that had little to do with sprawl or police brutality.
  - aprilthird2021 1y ago
    The bay area has sprawl and has been embracing police brutality on this issue, and homelessness is not improving here. If that worked, they would try it here.
  - Forgeties79 1y ago
    The police in my city regularly go through and rip apart encampments and scatter everybody to the wind. It literally solves nothing. I also find it pretty horrifying for someone to actively advocate for “police brutality.” By definition it is immoral and should not be desired. You can’t even be bothered to say “strong policing“ and pretend you don’t want law enforcement to abuse people who already have enough problems? You actively want them going out and hurting people? Please correct me if I’m wrong because it really comes across that way.
bob1029 1y ago
The sprawling mess of Houston has ostensibly contributed to its very low housing costs. A lot of the other problems in the area begin to melt away when everything is ridiculously affordable. The golden path is to live in the Houston area while working remotely. This helps you to avoid the worst aspect of the region while maximizing the best aspects. A million dollars buys you an incredible length of runway in the Houston market. You could buy a very high end home in the woodlands in cash, put a Porsche in the garage, and still have enough to go for a decade before you had to find a source of income again.
- Forgeties79 1y ago
  What you are proposing is far out of reach for most Americans. “Put together a million dollars” and “work remotely”? The biggest employer in Houston by a huge margin is the oil and gas industry - most of those jobs are not going to be remote and a lot of those jobs are not a pathway to $1 million. What about people who work in hospitality, roughly 10% of the workforce? You’re describing this as relatively simple/achievable but for a lot of people it simply isn’t. Houston has one of the highest poverty rates in the country with 1 in 5 living below the poverty line - https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/houston/2025/09/12/530735/houston-has-the-highest-poverty-rate-among-the-biggest-cities-in-the-u-s-new-data-find/ https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/houston/202...
  - bob1029 1y ago
    > The biggest employer in Houston It seems that we have different definitions of "remote".
    - Forgeties79 1y ago
      I am talking about what jobs people in Houston actually have as well as the socio-economic realities of the city. “Just get a remote job and make $1 million“ is not serious advice.

superxpro12 1y ago

[flagged]

knowaveragejoe 1y ago
That's not what a zoning code does.
dylan604 1y ago
Meh, that's not a problem when you've been allowed to build in a flood zone.

akgoel 1y ago

It’s not quite true that we have no codes, but you wouldn’t come here and find some hell hole of mixed industrial and residential. Land prices really do dictate use.

staticautomatic 1y ago
You mean like the million dollar McMansions on the same block as a gas station, across the street from an office high rise? I think you’re over-estimating the effect of land prices.
- Yizahi 1y ago
  What's the problem with gas station (provided it keeps mandatory distance from the buildings) or the office building near the residential ones? In fact, close offices are often cited as a pros for certain locations, people are even trying to rent as close as they can in some cities. PS: I've lived the whole last year approximately 100m away from both gas station and large office complex. Neither bothered me at all, and it was a first floor.
vel0city 1y ago
Maybe inside the loop, but go to Channelview or Deer Park or Baytown or La Porte or League City or even Webster. Go take a look around the Nasa Bypass and Gulf Freeway. You've got apartments, a Great Wolf Lodge, an oil pipeline holding station, and single family homes all right next to each other all right on top of the creek. The parks I used to play at had active oil and gas wells right next to them. My neighborhood growing up had a big, straight greenbelt that bisected the neighborhood due to the abundance of buried gas lines in between.
- Psillisp 1y ago
  The loop will not save you
Psillisp 1y ago
Have you been on Houston Avenue? It is an unwalkable hell hole. It literally goes townhouses, lumber yard, liquor store, train track, townhouses, bail bonds, Chevy dealership with limited sidewalks.

jotux 1y ago

>> Houston has no zoning code >Too many and too restrictive building codes are bad, but no codes? Yikes You're confusing zoning codes (what land can be used for what type of structure, e.g., industrial and residential) and building codes (the rules for safely constructing a building).

rtkwe 1y ago

Zoning code != building codes. Zoning deals with the types of buildings/uses that can be built in an area not the requirements for safety like electrical or structural building codes. It's definitely a mixed bag though, zoning keeps industrial uses away from residential which is good for pollution and noise reasons but it also restricts building dense housing in areas zoned single family. I'm always dubious about explanations that don't account for the fact that the weather in many California towns are more pleasant and survivable year round compared to Texas. Or that locations like SF are quite space constrained when it comes to new housing so new projects generally have to displace some current use making the process harder.

digianarchist 1y ago

California has passed SB79 which is a minor step forward. The opposition it received was pretty high for such a limited Bill. I don't have a huge amount of faith CA will get housing costs under control but doing so is clearly one of the prerequisites to get a handle on the homelessness crisis. https://cayimby.org/legislation/sb-79/ https://cayimby.org/legislation/sb-79/