A pro­posed apart­ment build­ing in Hous­ton is spurring dis­cus­sion about the city’s build­ing code — and where sup­port­ive hous­ing for for­mer­ly unhoused res­i­dents should go. As R.A. Schuetz explains in the Hous­ton Chron­i­cle, the non­prof­it devel­op­er in charge of the project is request­ing a vari­ance to build clos­er than 25 feet from the prop­er­ty line to accom­mo­date the sup­port­ive hous­ing project.

“But lawyers rep­re­sent­ing the own­ers of a block of land near­by have protest­ed that the vari­ance would make the area less pedes­tri­an-friend­ly, which is the pur­pose of the city rule lim­it­ing how close build­ings can be to prop­er­ty lines.” The non­prof­it, Bread of Life, says it plans to pro­vide pedes­tri­ans with a six-foot wide side­walk.

“The build­ing that would require the vari­ance would be the sec­ond of a two-phase project to bring more per­ma­nent sup­port­ive hous­ing to the block bound­ed by Craw­ford, Gray and Jack­son streets and the Pierce Ele­vat­ed, accord­ing to Plan­ning Com­mis­sion doc­u­ments.”