Houston City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to turn more than 12 acres of city-owned land in south Houston into a new single-family housing community called Braes Park, clearing the way for 144 homes at 10301 Stella Link Road, including roughly 89 priced for low- to moderate-income buyers.
The vote, confirmed by Click2Houston, authorizes a purchase and sale agreement between the city and developer Willowbend Link, LP, along with a forgivable loan to help finance the company's purchase of the property. The site sits about a five-minute drive from the Texas Medical Center, which the outlet describes as a major employment hub for tens of thousands of Houston-area workers.
Braes Park will include two-, three- and four-bedroom detached single-family homes built out over seven or eight phases, mixing roughly 89 affordable units with market-rate homes. The affordable homes will be priced between $210,000 and $300,000 and targeted at households earning up to 120% of area median income, per the same report.
How the City Landed the Site
The Stella Link Road property has a winding financial history. The city purchased the 12.22-acre parcel for $13,839,150 in March 2022 using Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery 2017 funds tied to Hurricane Harvey recovery efforts, the station's report notes. The original development plan was later deemed unfeasible under Texas General Land Office timeline requirements for development and home sales, prompting the city to re-acquire the property using Uptown TIRZ Series 2021 affordable-homes funds.
Affordability on the site will be preserved through a land use restriction agreement, with the forgivable loan backing Willowbend Link's purchase forgiven once that agreement expires, according to the same account. The Houston Housing and Community Development Department recommended council approval and oversees the city's broader Affordable Home Development Program, which aims to expand single-family homeownership opportunities in desirable Houston neighborhoods.
Council Members Weigh In
Mayor Pro Tem Martha Castex-Tatum, who represents District K and led the affordable housing effort, said finding the right developer took time but called the Stella Link location highly significant for the city's affordable housing goals. “Affordability is slipping away,” Castex-Tatum said, adding that she looks forward to the site becoming part of Houston's affordable housing stock, per Click2Houston.
At-Large Position 2 Council Member Willie Davis called the development a win and a way to bring people back to Houston, the outlet reported. The Houston Housing and Affordability Committee reviewed the proposal in mid-September before it came to the full council for Wednesday's vote.
A Tight Rental Market Across Harris County
The Braes Park approval lands amid a broader shift in Harris County's housing market. According to the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University, the county added 30,700 multifamily living units in 2024 alone, far outpacing single-family construction, while the share of households renting rose from 44.8% in 2023 to 46.2% in 2024.
The Kinder Institute also found that more than half of Harris County renters, 51.2%, were cost-burdened in 2024, spending over 30% of household income on housing, with an additional 30,000 renter households crossing that threshold during the year. About 19,000 fewer households owned their homes in 2024 even as nearly 30,000 more opted to rent, underscoring the kind of affordability pressure that city officials pointed to in approving the Stella Link project.
Braes Park isn't the city's only effort along these lines. Houston's Housing and Community Development Department has also outlined its New Home Development Program, which builds new, resilient single-family homes for sale at affordable prices to eligible buyers, and a separate OST South Union at MLK project.
