u/Limp_Adhesiveness255

Rare TX Ws for urbanism in 2025 (in case you missed it):

• SB 840 lets developers build multifamily housing on land currently zoned for office, retail, or warehouse without needing rezoning. It also caps how restrictive cities can be on parking, height, setbacks, and density. This applies to about 19 cities with 150,000+ residents.
• HB 24 killed the "tyrant's veto," the old rule that let a small group of nearby property owners force a 75% supermajority vote to block any zoning change. That rule killed countless housing projects, including a North Side San Antonio affordable housing project that lost tens of millions in tax credits when the council couldn't hit the supermajority.
• SB 15 allows much smaller residential lots (down to 3,000 sq ft) in new subdivisions on large tracts in big cities.
• SB 2477 creates a fast-track for converting empty office buildings into housing.

However, cities are already pushing back. Within weeks of SB 840 taking effect, Irving, Arlington, Plano, and Frisco rolled out new rules designed to make it harder to build apartments under the new law. Worth watching what your own city or suburb does in 2026.

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There's a federal bill in Congress called the Build More Housing Near Transit Act. It would amend the federal Capital Investment Grants program, the main source of federal money for new transit projects, to give cities a scoring boost if they pair transit projects with pro-housing land-use reforms.

The reforms it specifically rewards: eliminating parking minimums, allowing multifamily by right, shrinking minimum lot sizes, lifting height limits, dedicating land to housing near transit.

Texas didn't just pass good housing law in 2025; it passed law that would make Texas cities substantially more competitive for federal transit funding if this bill becomes law.

Why this matters for your specific city:

• Houston: METRO walked away from the $3.5 billion expansion voters approved in 2019. CIG funding is one of the few ways the rail and BRT promises could still get built.
• Dallas–Fort Worth: DART's silver line is opening, but DART has been fighting suburban member cities over funding. Better CIG positioning matters for any future expansion.
• Austin: Project Connect is partly federally funded. Anything that improves Cap Metro's CIG scoring helps the long-term plan.
• San Antonio: VIA's advanced rapid transit project depends heavily on federal grants.
• El Paso, Fort Worth, Corpus, the Valley: Smaller transit agencies are even more dependent on competitive federal grants than the big four. CIG scoring tweaks compound.

If you want to get ahead of the curve, take a look at this document I made that's a template for sending to lawmakers. In August, congresspeople will be back in their districts, making it a perfect time to schedule chats with their local offices. Be sure to read up on the materials embedded as they give great context for why these kinds of policies are desirable.

The Build More Housing Near Transit Act would push localities to allow more housing near rail stations as a condition of certain federal transit funding. It's the kind of carrot-and-stick that actually matters for a city like ATL, where MARTA exists but a huge share of the land within walking distance of stations is zoned for single-family homes or surface parking. An already positive sign is the ATL Zoning 2.0, the first full rewrite of Atlanta's zoning ordinance in 40 years. Draft V2 was released last December, public comment closed in April, and City Council is taking it up this spring/summer. Using that momentum, we can strike while the iron is hot and can push for more going into August when all the reps will be in their districts.

I wanted to share this advocacy template document to get people a way in to local political advocacy. It directly applies to Build More, but if you have another bill you want to use, feel free to talk about that instead. The materials embedded would still apply. See the document here.

For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, "urbanism" refers to how cities get built and how people move through them. The version a lot of us interested in it push for emphasizes transit, mixed-use zoning, and being able to handle daily errands without a car. Atlanta has more latent potential here than almost any Sun Belt city (the BeltLine proved people want walkable neighborhoods when they're allowed to exist) but the policy hasn't caught up to the demand but that can change. See the linked document for more details and statistics you can bring up in discussions on the topic.

If you want to get into local political advocacy, I created a policy brief pushing for the Build More Housing Near Transit Act. Just personalize the placeholder information and send to your local lawmakers. In it, there are statistics and other details on how positive urbanist policies are desirable and beneficial for local communities. Find it here.

The materials are pretty evergreen, so if there is another bill you think would be more pertinent to push than this one, then feel free to change that too. The important thing is to go in to a potential meeting with your representatives when they're in their districts in August. From my experience, at least in Dallas, TX, they have been pretty receptive to hearing me out, but if change is going to happen it'll take consistency as you are well aware.

EDIT: I posted this a while back on an alt account to r/StrongTowns and reposted it here, but I edited the file and the structure looks a lot better.

If you’re unfamiliar with “urbanism,” it's how inhabitants of urban areas, such as towns and cities, interact with the built environment. Positive urbanism inherently supports public transit and mixed use zoning, with an emphasis on making it easier to do everyday errands without needing a vehicle.

As a native Dallasite, I’ve noticed that there is quite a lack of this kind of infrastructure outside of very few places, which is crazy given the population size.

This doesn't apply to just DFW, but I’m working on a campaign to get local officials involved in supporting this kind of legislation forward. One small step in that is furthering the Build More Housing Near Transit Act. August is coming up, and if you want to get more involved in local politics, this is a great starting point.

Check out DATA to support DART - https://dallasareatransitalliance.org/

If you’re unfamiliar with “urbanism,” it's how inhabitants of urban areas, such as towns and cities, interact with the built environment. Positive urbanism inherently supports public transit and mixed use zoning, with an emphasis on making it easier to do everyday errands without needing a vehicle.

As a native Dallasite, I’ve noticed that there is quite a lack of this kind of infrastructure outside of very few places, which is crazy given the population size.

This doesn't apply to just DFW, but I’m working on a campaign to get local officials involved in supporting this kind of legislation forward. One small step in that is furthering the Build More Housing Near Transit Act. August is coming up, and if you want to get more involved in local politics, this is a great starting point.

Check out DATA to support DART - https://dallasareatransitalliance.org/

If you’re unfamiliar with “urbanism,” it's how inhabitants of urban areas, such as towns and cities, interact with the built environment. Positive urbanism inherently supports public transit and mixed use zoning, with an emphasis on making it easier to do everyday errands without needing a vehicle.

As a native Dallasite, I’ve noticed that there is quite a lack of this kind of infrastructure outside of very few places, which is crazy given the population size.

This doesn't apply to just DFW, but I’m working on a campaign to get local officials involved in supporting this kind of legislation forward. One small step in that is furthering the Build More Housing Near Transit Act. August is coming up, and if you want to get more involved in local politics, this is a great starting point.

Check out DATA to support DART - https://dallasareatransitalliance.org/

If you’re unfamiliar with “urbanism,” it's how inhabitants of urban areas, such as towns and cities, interact with the built environment. Positive urbanism inherently supports public transit and mixed use zoning, with an emphasis on making it easier to do everyday errands without needing a vehicle.

As a native Dallasite, I’ve noticed that there is quite a lack of this kind of infrastructure outside of very few places, which is crazy given the population size.

This doesn't apply to just DFW, but I’m working on a campaign to get local officials involved in supporting this kind of legislation forward. One small step in that is furthering the Build More Housing Near Transit Act. August is coming up, and if you want to get more involved in local politics, this is a great starting point.

If you’re unfamiliar with “urbanism,” it’s the promotion and pursuit of freedom of movement, away from needing a car to get everywhere. It inherently supports public transit and mixed use zoning, with an emphasis on making it easier to do everyday errands by walking.

As a frequent goer to Nashville, I’ve noticed that there is quite a lack of this kind of infrastructure, which is strange for the size of the city and the amount of tourism it gets. However, if there are some organizations I overlooked in my research, please let me know so I can add it to my working map of organizations (in the document) and join when I’m back in town.

From a more national perspective, I’m working on a campaign to get local officials involved in supporting this kind of legislation forward. One small step in that is furthering the Build More Housing Near Transit Act. August is coming up, and if you want to get more involved in local politics, this is a great starting point.

Hello! I'm an American coming to Serbia in July for a little over a month-long internship. In that time, I want to do some traveling, not only around Serbia, but throughout the Balkans, and am wondering about the feasibility of train travel between countries. What are the best trains routes to take out of Belgrade if I want to go to Hungary, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bosnia, or Croatia (or even Romania)?