Builder True North Homes is partnering with Austin Habitat for Humanity's consulting arm, Home Base, to bring 47 new, affordable homes to the Goodnight Ranch community. 

What you need to know: Announced in March, the development will bring townhomes to the property, according to a representative of builder and developer True North Homes. Each unit will have three bedrooms and two bathrooms, with open-concept living, dining and kitchen space, plans show. 

What's next: The construction timeline for the project is expected to run from spring 2026 to the end of 2027, per the announcement. 

Residents across Hays County may face tighter water restrictions and higher costs in the coming months as drought conditions worsen.

The Barton Springs-Edwards Aquifer Conservation District, or BSEACD, is moving closer to declaring its first Stage 4 Emergency Response Period in the district’s nearly 40-year history.

Officials told Community Impact the declaration will be considered at a May 14 board meeting.

While recent rainfall has slowed the decline, it has not reversed the severity of the drought, said Shay Hlavaty, BSEACD communications and outreach manager. Justin Camp, a BSEACD hydrogeologist technician, said the water level at the Lovelady Monitor Well was just 5 inches above the Stage 4 threshold April 9.

Hays County domestic well owners may feel drought effects more sharply as groundwater levels drop.

The impact: The conservation district has been in a constant drought at various stages of severity since July 2022, over 45 consecutive months. The district previously faced an eight-month drought from November 2020 until June 2021.

Some Texas families began learning April 22 if they were accepted to the state’s education savings account program for the 2026-27 school year, officials said.

The big picture: Over 42,600 students will receive funding notices through April 24, the state comptroller’s office announced April 22. The first awardees include low- and middle-income students with disabilities and their eligible siblings.

Families accepted to the Texas Education Freedom Accounts program will receive state funds to send their children to private school or homeschool them.

The details: The first round of awardees is set to receive about $400 million of the $1 billion allocated for the program. Up to 100,000 students are expected to qualify for the program's first year.

The comptroller's office will run a lottery the week of April 27 to determine which low-income students will be accepted based on a prioritization system.

Stay tuned: Families that do not qualify for funding will also be notified through April 24. Additional students will receive funding awards in the coming weeks, a program spokesperson said.