Urban Edge

Insights, perspectives and stories about building better cities and better lives

Rising cost of utilities adds to housing affordability woes in Harris County

Nearly 70% of Harris County residents faced some level of difficulty affording their housing costs in 2024, according to a Kinder Institute survey. Among those who did, high utility bills were the most common contributing factor.

Naturally occurring affordable housing is crucial to Houston’s low-income residents. Preserving it requires action.

In Harris County, about 320,000 low-income households are housing cost burdened, paying more than 30% of their income toward rent. Given the low number of subsidized housing units and vouchers available in the county, this population is increasingly reliant upon “naturally occurring affordable housing,” or NOAH.

Rising costs and affordable housing challenges threaten urban areas in Texas

Cities in Texas are in the midst of an escalating housing crisis. Affordability is slipping even in Houston, one of the least expensive large cities in the U.S., said Caroline Cheong, Kinder Institute for Urban Research associate director of housing and neighborhoods.

Public housing is effectively over in Houston. What comes next?

In September, the Houston Housing Authority announced it is ending public housing, following a national trend, as cities such as Chicago and Atlanta have also done so, with previously government-run developments being converted to federally subsidized but privately owned mixed-income communities with fewer affordable units.

Houstonians' tolerance for higher taxes and fees could soon be tested by city's budget woes

Yes, Houston is facing an exorbitant budget deficit. But residents still want a better city.

Q&A: Industry, academia and community have opportunity to close Houston's skills gap

Tens of thousands of Houston-area high school students graduate each year into one of three career pathways: workforce, two-year college degree and four-year college degree.

Data-driven strategies highlight the complexity and impact of nonprofit work in Houston

For several generations, the Alexander Jewish Family Service has provided an array of social services to people in need.

To build a better housing system in Houston, let’s start here

Houston has long been hailed as one of the country’s most affordable big cities, bucking national trends. But as the Kinder Institute and others have found, our affordability — and the economic opportunity that comes with it — could be slipping away.

In ‘A Good Reputation,’ Houston’s Northside offers diverging views on neighborhood change

In an April 2014 Houstonia Magazine article, “Where to Live Now: The 25 Hottest Neighborhoods of 2014,” the authors claimed that gentrification had “leapt beyond the Heights and into Lindale Park and Brooke Smith,” which meant that “Northside Village” was the “the next play for urban pioneers.”

Religious identities shift in Houston and the U.S. with rise of the ‘nones’

In the last 15 years, more Houstonians have become religiously unaffiliated, according to the Kinder Houston Area Survey. In the 2009 survey, 54% of respondents identified as Protestant and 31% as Catholic. In 2024, Protestants decreased to 38% and Catholics to 26%.