Democrats in Texas and New York are blocking efforts to build cheaper housing while also making life more difficult for Airbnb landlords

• Texas and New York have both recently killed major pro-housing legislation in their states.
• Both states are facing worsening housing shortages and affordability crises.

The second-largest blue state and the biggest red state in the country are nearly always at odds on major policy issues. But they've agreed on one thing this year: opposing cheaper and more abundant housing.

Democratic lawmakers across the country, including at the federal level, largely say they're pro-housing and that they want to address the affordability crisis, homelessness, and the housing shortage. But Democratic politicians have stood in the way of building new and denser housing in blue and red states alike.

In New York and Texas, Democrats recently facilitated the death of major pieces of pro-housing legislation.

This week, 43 Democrats joined with 27 Republicans in the Texas state House to kill a bill that would have loosened restrictions on the construction of accessory dwelling units, which are secondary units on the lot of a primary home. Just 13 Democrats joined with 55 Republicans in support of the legislation, which would have helped boost housing density in single-family neighborhoods across the state.

Some Texas Democrats opposed the legislation because it would have opened opportunities for short-term rentals, like Airbnbs. Proponents argue ADUs help create new affordable housing and can be a boon for small landlords.

State Rep. John Bryant, a Dallas Democrat who opposed the bill, told the Texas Tribune that the ADUs bill would "make a commercial, uncontrollable, really unforeseeable mess out of every neighborhood in the state."

Another GOP bill Democrats helped sink would have shrunk the required minimum size of a plot of land needed to build a new home in Texas. Yet another failed piece of legislation would have gotten rid of height restrictions on multi-family homes situated next to single-family homes.

Some Democratic lawmakers argued that they opposed the measures because they would have allowed state regulations to supercede local laws — a dynamic blue cities in the deeply conservative state are sensitive to.

People from all over the country have relocated to Texas in droves, particularly over the last few years, in large part because of the state's abundant affordable housing.

But that affordability is being threatened — and vanishing altogether — in many parts of the state because supply isn't keeping up with demand.

Texas needed to build 330,000 more homes back in 2019, before the pandemic-induced surge of buyers, according to one report. The same report found that New York had a shortage of about 234,000 homes in 2019.

Last month, New York stripped Gov. Kathy Hochul's plan to mandate denser housing around New York City from the state budget amid opposition from Democratic members of the state assembly, particularly those in wealthy suburban districts.

Hochul's plan would have built 800,000 new homes over the next ten years to address New York's dire housing shortage and affordability crisis that's driving middle- and working-class people out of New York City and its suburbs and worsening homelessness.

Last year, Hochul removed her proposal mandating that local governments legalize ADUs across the state after fierce opposition from suburban lawmakers.

Over the last ten years, the state has created 1.2 million new jobs, but built just 400,000 units of new housing, according to government data. The overwhelming majority of New Yorkers say housing affordability is a top concern.

"There is a very loud minority of New Yorkers who call their legislators every day to complain about the possibility that the state would require housing to get built," Andrew Fine, policy director at the pro-housing group Open New York, told Insider. "And many politicians are scared of those voters."