Texas Senate Bill 673 would strengthen property rights, improve housing affordability

A version of the following written comment was submitted to the Texas State House of Representatives Committee on Land and Resource Management on May 1, 2025.

We share the same goal as Senators Hughes and West: strengthening property rights and improving housing affordability in Texas. SB673 would do both.  

Accessory dwelling units (ADUs), often called casitas or granny flats, are small apartments typically added to an existing home on a residential lot. It should be a fundamental part of a landowner’s property rights to add such a unit to their property if they so desire, given that it does not harm neighboring property owners. However, many local governments in Texas have trampled on individual property rights and have outlawed ADUs. 

This doesn’t just rip away property rights. It worsens housing affordability by restricting supply and hampering workforce mobility. Making it harder for people to relocate for better jobs and better housing stifles innovation and adaptability. It even affects environmental sustainability by pushing housing further from city centers, leading to more sprawl, car dependence, and pollution. 

If we want a thriving economy that truly supports people from all walks of life, we need to constrain local government’s ability to prevent harmless and very small increases in the density of residential areas through voluntary addition of ADUs.  

SB 673 takes important steps in that direction, re-establishing clearer property rights and limiting the scope of local government intervention in routine housing decisions. The bill would prevent local governments from banning or overly restricting ADUs while still allowing sensible health and safety regulations and the protection of neighboring properties from harm. Just as important, SB 673 does not restrict homeowner associations (HOAs) and other forms of covenants and restrictions on deeds that limit ADUs. Those are baked into the property rights they govern and are the appropriate way to provide people the choice of neighborhoods without ADUs if they want that option, rather than local government regulations affecting all property owners.  

Senate Bill 673 would improve property rights in Texas and allow for greater housing supply and affordability with ADUs without taking away the power of local governments to prevent harm to neighboring properties or of HOAs or contractual means of limiting ADUs where property owners choose to.  

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