Builders, NAACP File Fair Housing Lawsuit
The HBA of Greater Austin, the NAHB, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and the NAACP’s local affiliates jointly filed a lawsuit against the City of Kyle (TX) alleging that the city’s building regulations violate the federal Fair Housing Act, which expressly prohibits discrimination in the rental or sale of a dwelling based on race, national origin, religion, sex, family status, or disability. The lawsuit claims that the ordinances, which include limits on lot sizes and mandates on minimum garage sizes and four-sided masonry exteriors, will disparately impact the ability of minorities to purchase new homes. 

According to the plaintiffs, the new regulations increased the minimum required size of a new home by 20 percent and the minimum lot size by 200 square feet. The plaintiffs argue that the regulations will raise the price of a single-family new home by approximately $38,500. They contend that this increase effectively prices minorities out of the new home market in certain areas of Kyle. The plaintiffs base this contention on an economic and demographic analysis by Impact DataSource, an economic consulting, research, and analysis firm. That analysis found Kyle’s new zoning restrictions had the effect of increasing housing costs so that a new entry-level home is no longer affordable for 258 Hispanic families in Kyle – 37.3 percent of Hispanic families in the city. The zoning restrictions, however, made entry-level housing unaffordable for only 24.8 percent of white families in the city. According to the plaintiffs’ complaint, the ordinances decrease affordable housing and adversely impact minorities, which will fundamentally change Kyle’s demographics over time.

The only monetary damages the plaintiffs seek are for attorneys’ fees and court costs. Instead, they are asking the court to declare the ordinances invalid and enjoin the city from enforcing them. To access the plaintiffs’ complaint, please click here. For information about the study undertaken to analyze the ordinances’ impact on minorities, click here.
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