Austin, Texas, outlaws windowless bedrooms

Austin, Texas will no longer allow developers to build windowless bedrooms.

For at least two decades, the city had permitted developers to build thousands of windowless bedrooms. Most of these units are located in apartments serving students in the neighborhood directly west of the University of Texas at Austin.

Absent a window requirement, developers were able to build more bedrooms and receive more rent. Professors and students have been advocating to make bedroom windows mandatory over concern for students’ mental health. Studies show access to natural light increases alertness and decreases depressive symptoms.

The city’s modified building code will allow a bedroom window that pulls in borrowed light— a window that faces another room with natural light, borrowing the light from elsewhere.