Comment by vel0city

You asked:

> Are angry homeowners...blocking homebuilding?

And then now:

> Local council meetings are notorious for attracting people willing to oppose any development.

So yes, even you agree there are angry homeowners doing what they can blocking homebuilding.

Yes, it's been happening at the local level, because that's where those decisions are almost always made.

> Recent zoning changes in Texas came from the state legislature

As in, this last legislative session. It took to that point because of angry homeowners blocking development. And how did they do it? By pushing out any local government that tried to enact development plans that tried to densify over and over again throughout tons of towns. The legislation didn't come from a vacuum, it came in response to these NIMBYs that have otherwise yielded significant political power at the local level.

> zoning is largely about what is blocked on existing inhabited land.

Practically all that land is currently zoned. It's not developed, but it is zoned. Almost always zoned agriculturally, as it was once pretty much all farm lands. Lots of those areas are still farms, but largely for tax reasons.