Wins / Texas, June 2025

Texas legalizes multifamily housing by-right on commercially zoned land in major cities

Partial winState overrides local rule

Senate Bill 840 requires Texas's largest cities to allow multifamily and mixed-use housing by right on commercially zoned land — bypassing the rezoning and public-hearing processes that constrain supply.

Where
Texas
When
June 2025
What kind
Legislation passed
Issue
Housing
Work by
Texans for Reasonable Solutions, Goldwater Institute, Pew Charitable Trusts

Why this is a partial win

This arrived as a state law overriding local zoning. Libertarians divide on that: some hold that a state has no business dictating what towns may forbid. The ledger records it because the person coerced was the owner who could not build, and the day after signing that owner could. The federalism question is real and is not the one the ledger measures. It applies only to the largest cities in the largest counties, so most Texans' towns are untouched.

Sources

Where to check it. Every entry on the ledger has at least two.

More from the ledger

Other entries from Texas and on the same issue.

Be counted

Most people who hold libertarian positions have never used the word. Ten statements, two minutes, and your dot joins the crowd.