AUSTIN, Texas--A dozen Austin property owners might have to wait until next year to learn if they can demolish their homes.
Those properties are all within proposed historic cultural districts, which the Austin City Council will consider creating in the coming months.
However, the districts do not currently exist.
Reedy Spigner lives in a home that's within one of those districts.
"I inherited this house for my children," he said. "My grandmother said, 'Make sure my grandchildren go to college or allow them to do whatever they want to do to be successful.'"
Spigner's home has been for sale for more than a year. In addition to setting aside money for his children, he wants to move out of the home where he was a victim of a home invasion last year.
Intruders shot Spigner and his girlfriend. Every buyer that's contacted Spigner wants to move the home or have it demolished.
He requested a demolition permit from the City of Austin, which required him to go before the Historic Landmark Commission Monday. Spigner said his entire neighborhood supports his choice to raze his house.
"I am only receiving opposition from one person, and that would be Ora Houston--someone that I voted for to represent my community," he said. "Now she is opposing everything we fought so hard against."
District 1 Council Member Ora Houston lives two doors down from Spigner's house on East 22nd Street.
Houston asked the city's Historic Landmark Commission to postpone Spigner's demolition request, plus 11 others. She wants to wait, hoping the Council will create new Historic Districts next year.
Due to the role Spigner's grandparents played in Austin's Black community, the house is considered a contributing structure to the proposed district.
"Based on that and Council Member Houston's request, I would move that we postpone this," Commissioner Terri Myers said.
Commissioners granted the postponement, despite Houston's absence from the meeting, until Oct. 24.
"That will put me in a dire financial situation," Spigner said. "I will probably lose my property and not have the opportunity to sell it and have my family benefit from this particular inheritance that I received."
Houston denied multiple requests for an interview on this story. Historic Landmark Commissioners tell Spectrum News this is the first time a Council Member has intervened on a demolition permit request.