Welcome to the Livable Places Initiative
We're paving the way for more equitable, walkable, and affordable neighborhoods for all Houstonians. Sounds good, right? We agree- but we need your help to make it happen.
- Equitable – Creating more accessible, diverse, and inclusive neighborhoods with a greater variety of housing and transportation choices.
- Walkable – Creating safer, more walkable neighborhoods that are less car-dependent, with better access to transit and bike facilities.
- Affordable – Creating a greater variety of housing options at more attainable price points for all Houstonians.
Use this page to learn more and provide input and feedback on recommended changes to some of Houston's development standards. Visit here often to find out about meetings, ask questions, participate in discussions and to learn more. Your participation is important to help guide how Houston develops.
Overall Housing Recommendations
Planning Department staff presented draft recommendations for housing to the Committee at their meeting on May 11, 2022. These include recommendations for small lot developments, small multi-family developments, accessory dwelling units, and lot access to public streets. View and comment on the proposed recommendations here.
Livable Places Action Committee Meeting
Tuesday, July 12, 2022, 3 - 5 p.m.
Join on your computer or mobile app
Click here to join the meeting
Or call in (audio only) +1 936-755-1521,,876747183# United States, Huntsville
Phone Conference ID: 876 747 183#
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About Livable Places
Houston is a rapidly growing city and family sizes are shrinking. There's a need for more, smaller homes for people of all ages. But, the City's rules make it difficult to build small, neighborhood scale homes for people to buy and rent.
If we want to preserve our great diversity, culture and innovative industry, we need to act now to address issues like displacement and rising home and transportation costs. That’s the goal of Livable Places: to pave the way for more connected, resilient and livable neighborhoods for all Houstonians.
To do this, we’ve created an Action Committee. Their goal is to update development standards to allow for a greater variety of homes to be built, make neighborhoods safer, and better utilize alternative forms of transportation. This means changes like:
- Allowing more “missing middle” homes, like triplexes and small house scale apartment buildings, in developed neighborhoods
- Making it easier to build accessory dwelling units, like garage apartments or “granny flats,” on single-family residential lots when not prohibited by deed restrictions
- Adding more home options with better access to transit options like bus stops, bike lanes, and neighborhood destinations
- Improving safety for pedestrians and cyclists
- Reducing parking requirements in neighborhoods will good access to existing transit and bike lanes
These changes are based on community feedback and previous efforts by the Planning Department. We want to hear from you about how to make our communities more walkable, affordable and equitable. Do you agree with what this project is trying to achieve? Let us know in the Proposed Amendments tab below.
Comment and Learn More
In the Proposed Amendments tab, you will find information on various amendments proposed through the Committee's work. You can send us your comments or questions if any or start a forum discussion.
In the Articles Tab, you will find various reading material that can provide context and definitions to support and provide meaning to the work the Livable Places Action Committee will discuss during its monthly meetings.
Thank you for your participation!