Housing

Kinder Houston Area Survey: 2023 Results

The 42nd Kinder Houston Area Survey provides a glimpse into how Houstonians are thinking about the economy, affordable housing, inequality, and other critical challenges and issues facing their communities.

More unhoused people are finding shelter in Houston. Ending chronic homelessness is the next hurdle.

New homelessness data for the area was released by the Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County this week, with the 2023 mark showing little change from last year, but an increase in shelter capacity is keeping more people in safer conditions. Houston, considered a national model in reducing homelessness over the past decade, now looks to put a stop to chronic homelessness.

A generation ago, a documentary revealed an unseen housing crisis in Houston

In 1979, a documentary filmmaker and an architect trained both of their lenses on Houston’s housing crisis. The result was a film that could have easily been made today, as housing costs, inflation and demographic change continue to reshape the region. It is also a film that demands a second viewing.

As Fort Bend becomes increasingly urban, developers see opportunity to rethink neighborhood design

A parcel of 235 acres off State Highway 99 and north of Highway 90 in Fort Bend County will be the home of a community where developers are offering residents an open-spaced, “people-first” neighborhood with maximized pedestrian safety, car-free zones and other amenities, including a 42-acre farm and a 25-acre lake.

As evictions reach historic levels in Harris County, families in Houston ISD are bearing the brunt

On March 6, nine days before the Texas Education Agency confirmed its plans to take over the Houston Independent School District, officials received a presentation from researchers at Princeton University about a dilemma confronting families and students in the district: evictions.

Houston metro may have set a housing permit record in 2022, but affordability remains elusive

New data from the U.S. Census Bureau showed a surge in residential building permits issued in the Houston metropolitan statistical area in 2022, with an estimated total of 75,786. The preliminary numbers place the Houston metro at No. 2 in the country behind Dallas and would be an all-time record, according to Federal Reserve records dating back to 1988. Even with potential increases in supply and continued development, affordability remains a big challenge for renters and would-be homeowners.

With conservation districts, Houston could have a new path to preserve neighborhoods

In October 2010, city officials were poised to strengthen Houston’s historic preservation law by adding a provision that, for the first time, would empower the city to forbid the demolition of certain homes in designated historic districts. Preservationists, who referred to the concept as “no means no,” were elated. But during last-minute wrangling over details, a Heights resident named Calvin Simper urged the City Council to reject the whole idea.

Houston and Harris County's rent relief partnership made a difference. It just didn't last.

When officials at Harris County got word that the Treasury Department was appropriating a historic amount of funding for states and local governments to help struggling renters during the pandemic, Leah Barton picked up the phone and called her counterpart at the city of Houston.

Houston’s moment for transit-oriented development may have finally arrived

This week, the Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County is expected to vote on an update to the agency’s development policies—a key step as the agency fundamentally rethinks how it can influence the urban fabric of Houston so that more people can live in proximity to public transit.

More Houston neighborhoods became majority-renter over the past decade

The share of renter households in the U.S. has doubled in the past 50 years—a trend that is reshaping how housing is built and distributed across cities and communities. In recent years, Houston has seen considerable growth in renters in a few concentrated areas.

New trove of federal data clearly shows a growing racial gap in home appraisals

The government just released millions of records on residential appraisals. A pair of researchers who focus on racial inequity in housing analyzed the data. Here’s what they found.

The first project in Buffalo Bayou Park's eastward plan is its most urgent: Build more housing

It’s really quite a lovely park, with features that check all the standard boxes: a playground, a gazebo with a big table, a soccer field, restrooms and water fountains, a paved trail that winds through the property, and lots of plain old green space. On a recent weekday afternoon, though, a visit to Tony Marron Park on Houston’s East End revealed a few glitches.

What happens after foreclosures rip through a neighborhood? A look at two Harris County cases

The 2022 State of Housing in Harris County and Houston analyzed foreclosures countywide from 2005 to 2020. But what happens to a neighborhood after a foreclosure crisis?

Webinar: 2022 State of Housing in Harris County and Houston

The Kinder Institute for Urban Research shares findings from the third State of Housing in Harris County and Houston report.

The 2022 State of Housing in Harris County and Houston

The third annual State of Housing report looks at the pandemic's impact on the local housing market. The report also sets new housing baselines on mortgage loan data, homelessness and other housing indicators.