Ninety percent of Texans believe that housing affordability is an issue in their part of the state. Overburdensome regulations can account for over 20% of the initial cost of housing. Considering the difficulty that Texas families face of finding housing within an affordable range, cities have slowly begun to change their zoning ordinances to allow for more affordable housing to be built. Unfortunately, current laws allow for property owners who own 20% of the land 200 feet around a proposed housing development to bring forth a petition to halt the development, unless three-fourths of the city council votes to override the petition. SB 844 will raise the threshold of land owned that is needed for the petition to 60%, and will lower the threshold for a city council to overturn the petition from three-fourths to a simple majority. These changes will help make housing more affordable by making it much easier for pro-housing ordinances to take effect.