Austin Fire Damage Rules: What the Lot Can Hold Now

What HOME Changed

The Home Options for Middle-income Empowerment initiative was adopted in two phases and it rewrote the entitlement attaching to ordinary single-family land.

Phase 1 was adopted by the City Council on 7 December 2023, with development applications accepted from 5 February 2024. It permits up to three dwelling units on lots in the SF-1, SF-2 and SF-3 zoning districts, by right rather than by rezoning.

Phase 2 was adopted on 16 May 2024, with applications accepted from 16 August 2024. It created a new land use category, small lot single-family residential use, in the same three districts. That use permits one unit on lots of at least 1,800 square feet but less than 5,750, which had been the standard residential minimum.

So Which Threshold Applies to My Lot?

Both, for different purposes. A single unit is now possible on a lot as small as 1,800 square feet. Two and three unit projects continue to require at least 5,750 square feet. So the lot size decides not whether you may build but how many dwellings the land will carry.

The rollout was staged for wildfire reasons. Properties within the Wildland-Urban Interface area, and those identified by the Uprooted Report, were excluded from the August 2024 start and their applications were not accepted until 16 November 2024.

What Subchapter F Still Does

Adopted in 2006 and known locally as the McMansion ordinance, Subchapter F applies within a mapped boundary covering much of greater central Austin rather than to the whole city, and reaches SF-1, SF-2, SF-3 and a few other districts.

Within it, the maximum development permitted on a covered property is the greater of a 0.4 floor to area ratio or 2,300 square feet of gross floor area. On a 7,000 square foot lot that produces 2,800 square feet of countable floor area.

It also imposes the setback planes that give the ordinance its shape. Side and rear planes rise from the property lines for fifteen feet and then slope inward at forty-five degrees, forming what the code calls a tent over the lot. The buildable area is the smallest space contained within the setbacks, the maximum height and those planes together.

Does Subchapter F Apply to My Property?

Only if it sits inside the mapped boundary, which covers much of central Austin and not the outer city. That is a lookup rather than an assumption, and it matters a great deal because inside the boundary the ordinance generally controls the design more than the base zoning numbers do.

And Why the Two Together Change the Answer

This is the part that matters after a fire, and it is a consequence of the two changes rather than a stated policy.

Subchapter F now applies only to lots carrying a single dwelling. Duplex, two-unit and three-unit residential uses fall under a separate provision which eliminates the tent and permits a higher floor to area ratio, with maximum building coverage and impervious cover limits applying in its place.

So on a covered central lot the same land supports materially more built area as two or three units than as one house, and without the setback planes that constrain a single dwelling.

What Does That Mean for Someone Whose House Has Burned?

That replacing what burned with a single house is frequently the least advantageous use of the lot, at least in floor area terms. It remains a perfectly reasonable choice for someone who wants a house. It is simply no longer the option the code favours, and the difference shows up in what buyers will pay.

We publish no calculation of what a particular lot could hold. Countable floor area under Subchapter F involves lengthy exemptions that have generated litigation, and the answer for your property depends on dimensions, existing structures and the mapped boundary. Development Services and a local architect are the right sources.

Transitional Rules Still Bite

One practical trap for anyone with an application already in. Residential building permit applications approved under pre-HOME regulations can opt into the Phase 1 amendments by major revision, but the city has limited that route to two-unit projects. A three-unit project requires a new building permit application to be considered under HOME.

If a fire has changed what you want to do with a permit already in the system, that distinction decides whether you are revising or starting again.

Outside the City, Different Again

Austin sits mostly in Travis County and extends into Williamson and Hays. Unincorporated county land is not governed by Austin's land development code, and Texas gives counties considerably narrower regulatory authority than cities.

The surrounding incorporated cities each run their own departments and their own codes, and none of them applies HOME or Subchapter F. Those are Austin ordinances and they stop at the city limits.

How Do I Confirm Which Jurisdiction I Am In?

The county appraisal district's parcel record names it, free. Postal addresses say Austin for a great deal of property outside the city, and an application filed with the wrong office is not forwarded. It is the lookup that should come before hiring anyone.

Texas-Wide, and Cheap

Texas levies no state or local real estate transfer tax, so a conveyance carries no percentage cost on the sale price, and recording is handled by the county clerk at modest fees. Compared with most markets on this site, more of what a buyer pays reaches the seller.

Your Four Exits, Compared

Repair what survived. Where the fire was contained this avoids the whole question, because you are not rebuilding and the entitlement debate does not arise.

Rebuild one house. Straightforward, and inside the Subchapter F boundary it is the most constrained option in floor area terms.

Rebuild as two or three units. More built area, no tent, and by right on a qualifying lot. It is a development project rather than a house project, which is the honest caveat.

Sell. Transfers the entitlement question to a buyer. What you get depends heavily on whether the buyers bidding have priced what the lot can hold.

Across Austin and Around It

The Subchapter F boundary and the older housing sit together in the central neighbourhoods, covered under the east side neighbourhoods and the older south central streets. Larger central lots behave differently in the west central neighbourhoods, while newer stock and different rules apply in the northern suburbs inside the city, the south-eastern neighbourhoods and unincorporated Travis County and the surrounding cities.

Those surrounding cities include Round Rock, Cedar Park, Pflugerville, Georgetown, Kyle, Buda, San Marcos, Leander, Lakeway and Bee Cave, each with its own department.

The full index is on our service area index.

Rules Questions

Is My Lot in the Subchapter F Area?

It applies within a mapped boundary covering much of greater central Austin rather than citywide. Development Services can confirm it for your address, and it changes what a single house may be.

Does HOME Apply to My Zoning?

The three unit allowance and the small lot use apply in SF-1, SF-2 and SF-3. Your zoning is on the appraisal record and the city's maps, both free to check.

I Am in the Wildfire Interface Area.

Then confirm the current position rather than assuming. Phase 2 was deliberately delayed in that area until November 2024 on wildfire grounds, and it is worth asking the city what applies now.

Primary Sources

City of Austin Development Services — HOME Amendments, adoption dates and application windows
Austin Land Development Code Subchapter F — residential design and compatibility standards
Austin City Council ordinances — HOME Phase 1 and HOME Phase 2
City of Austin — small lot single-family residential use standards in SF-1, SF-2 and SF-3
Travis Central Appraisal District — parcel dimensions, zoning and jurisdiction