Photo: Homes with added units like this converted garage may become more common in Texas to ease housing shortages. Craftsman-style home with Backyard Secondary Suite, by Sightline Institute Middle Homes Photo Library: www.sightline.org., Wikimedia Common
Texas knows it has a housing shortage and wants residents to help solve the problem.
Anti-Frat House Laws
Local government sometimes ban “unrelated adults” from sharing houses or apartments. These laws may aim to keep population density at current levels, or keep out families who don’t fit the two-parent nuclear model. They can also make it harder for the working poor and students from finding affordable housing. Despite being home to at least five colleges and universities, the city of Raleigh, North Carolina had such laws in the 1980s.
Car-centric Suburbs Became the New Normal After 1945
The car took over as the main means of transportation for most Americans after the end of World War 2. The federal government insured mortgage loans that spawned the growth of car-centered suburbs. Local municipalities often banned new construction of 2- and 3-family homes. Boarding houses, which had served the working poor and transient workers, were banned in many places.
In 2019, the left-leaning city of Minneapolis banned the building of new single-family homes within its city limits. The goal is to increase the density of the city and get more people riding public transportation.
Now, in 2025, the right-leaning state of Texas is following the same trend. Even with miles of open prairie for its cities to expand into, even with a Texas-based petroleum industry encouraging the use of cars, and despite the Republican Agenda 2025 urge to pass no law “discouraging the construction of single-family homes,” Texas sees the writing on the wall.
Texas is a fast-growing state. It seeks to expand manufacturing, tourism, financial investment and new population. To keep growing, it must make room for people, even in suburban garages converted into apartments.
Many suburbanites dread the diversification of once monolithic suburbs. There may soon be a greater variety of income levels on a single suburban cul-de-sac tomorrow than was there when it was built. There are also concerns that local schools may lack capacity for new students, that there is no on-street parking once each house has more than two drivers. There is also the risk of investors buying up single-family homes and turning them into overcrowded dormitories.
One can see this impending change in many car-centric suburbs, where a house with a two-car garage has five or six automobiles parked outside. The family started with two adults, but adult offspring now have their own jobs, cars and student loans to pay off. In fact over half of American 30-year-olds live with their parents.
This is the new reality, and even Texas is waking up to it.
Sources:
Lori Brown, “‘Frat House’ bill would limit would block Texas cities from limiting unrelated residents,” April 10, 2025, Fox4News.com
Joshua Fechter and Zach Despart, “Texas Senate advances bill to allow smaller homes on smaller lots,” March 19, 2025, Texastribune.org
Kevin A. Thompson, “Native American Counties have the highest proportion of 3-generation households,” November 30, 2023, Indigenousnetwork.org
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