I am curious if it is a good time to increase supply through development of new construction.

Not arguing, just a counter point: Housing/rental shortages are almost always caused by zoning laws and restrictive building codes that make it difficult or even impossible for developers to add to the supply of units in a growing demand area.Often established property owners in the area fight FOR these codes to keep the competition from driving down the rents on their existing buildings. 

But personally speaking, I will not allow pets in. they probably will scratch the furniture.

It seems like the compition is very fierce and the supply of houses is quite low.

https://www.har.com/content/newsroom/Houston Real Estate Highlights in May Single-family home sales rose 2.8 percent year-over-year, with 8,346 units sold, marking the fourth consecutive month of positive sales;On a year-to-date basis, single-family home sales are 2.7 percent ahead of 2018’s record pace;Days on Market (DOM) for single-family homes was flat at 53 days;Total property sales increased 3.1 percent, with 9,948 units sold;Total dollar volume jumped 7.8 percent to slightly more than $3 billion;The single-family home median price rose 2.4 percent to $249,993, achieving an all-time high;The single-family home average price was up 5.8 percent to $323,023 – also a record high;Single-family homes months of inventory reached a 4.2-months supply, up from 3.9 months last May and the most plentiful level since August 2017.

There aren’t many (despite low supply/high demand in the area), but worth a shot.My only hope is that their answer does not echo my previous experience double checking with the local offices.But definitely worth an inquiry.

Cats tend to use litter boxes and if they cause damage, it is typically to the tenant's furniture (ie. leather couches) rather than the actual property.

Areas with high wages have high demand for homes, high demand lowers supply, risk is seen as less, so prices go up.

Is there any problem with the stairs increasing damages from moving furniture up and down them?

The reason we focused on student housing was because there was a limited supply at the time we started in the business.