No: The middle class is suffering because it's illegal to building housing for them. See http://jakeseliger.com/2015/09/24/do-millennials-have-a-futu... or The Rent Is Too Damn High http://www.amazon.com/TheRent-Too-Damn-High-Matters-ebook/dp....
If you restrict the supply of a good in the face of increasing demand, prices rise. The rest is commentary.
Another issue here is the wealth disparity. I think your typical millionaire could easily outbid five middle class families or even ten middle class families.
They often could, but would they choose to? Less trivially.
Too many of the self-described progressives in places like Seattle and San Francisco are too entrenched to admit that market forces (or more accurately, the resistance of them) is the real problem.
Huge issue is that the real estate market is growing faster than wages are. So you need to be able to throw down serious cash if you want in. I'm of the conclusion that you either better hustle hard and make a ton of money or move further out and schedule your commute accordingly. It's not going to change nor will the counsel fix it.
I personally think that Central areas have reached bubble status. Total dumpster fires going for nearly a million? Might as well move to the ocean for that much!
Anyway, I honestly don't think it's worth fighting. If you want in, the better solution is figuring out how you're going to get 200k cash in your bank account without devastating your life, and fast. Otherwise rent all your life, or see ya in Leander. Pick one.
As for the shrinking population of black people I believe this is more due to culture than anything. Austin never has had a very large black population and as I said always been quite segregated. The culture in Austin is and has always been very white compared to cities that were much larger like Dallas and Houston. My friends that have moved away due to this have told me they just don't feel like there are enough places for them to go to on Friday/Saturday night. For us white folks there is an insane amount of things to do culture wise, especially if you are into music.
Also Austin never had jobs compared to other large metros in Texas until the tech jobs came. You either worked at the State, UT or pretty much waited tables.
Economic segregation is the whole point of density-based zoning. It is widely supported by property owners. If we can't convince them that they are beneficiaries of unjust laws, then the courts are our best option.
[1] https://medium.com/@niranbabalola/we-must-repeal-our-segrega...
Another group is trying to sue Lafayette, Ca http://www.citylab.com/housing/2015/09/suing-the-suburbs-ove...
Edit: fixed first link
We don't need to eliminate zoning, but density-based zoning is guaranteed to cause economic segregation. That's what it's for. We should eliminate it in our central cities and employment centers.
That is completely unfounded.
The problem is that we've made it illegal for the middle class to outbid the rich. Single family zoning laws have always been intended to segregate people by income, but the economics of urban growth have made the middle class the victims of the segregation laws they've always supported.
The effects are most egregious in high employment areas with predominantly single family zoning, like Silicon Valley, Seattle, and Austin, where I live. In Austin, the vast majority of the city is blanketed with laws that make it harder for the middle class to outbid the rich than any city in Texas. Where Houston allows four families to build homes to outbid the rich, Austin only allows one. It's no surprise that we're the most economically segregated city in the country[1], and the only growing city that has a shrinking black population[2].
We must fight to desegregate our cities. The middle class is suffering not because they can't afford to outbid the rich, but because it's illegal to outbid the rich.
[1] https://www.texastribune.org/2015/02/23/austin-most-economic...
[2] http://kut.org/post/austins-population-booming-why-its-afric...