I know an Austin company whose building burned down on property it owned. It took five years to rebuild, primarily because of onerous City of Austin building permits.

“If it is couched in non-racial terms, and assists with the issues in question all who meet the given requirements without reference to race, then a successful challenge would be less likely.”

Well, that strategy didn’t work out so well for Trump and his refugee freeze. Given that they’ve already said it was to assist minorities, they might have trouble backtracking when they implement the law.

Policies that benefit specific races or groups of races will only serve to create more racists.

The reality is that Austin is a very difficult city in which to build; in some cases it takes an act of god and thousands of dollars in permits and fees just to build an outdoor deck. That’s why gentrification is occurring: building sites are simply too valuable, and it’s much cheaper/easier to rehab an existing property then to build new.

If Steve Adler really wants to minimize gentrification and make Austin “affordable”, then he should get out of the way and make it easier for developers to build. Artificially preventing gentrification by establishing rules or programs that limit this activity will only make the Austin more expensive.