Public Health

A Tale of Two Departments: Public Health in Harris County and the City of Houston

This report examines the possible service overlaps between the Harris County Department of Public Health and the City of Houston Department of Health and Human Services. The report also identifies options to reduce overlaps and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the public health delivery system.

3 trends in urban planning that will shape how we live in the endemic-COVID era

It is now clear that the pandemic will not be behind us anytime soon. The pandemic variants and skepticism over the vaccine have made the potential for herd immunity (requiring a very high vaccination rate globally) difficult if not impossible to attain. This means that we are probably going to have to live with COVID for the foreseeable future and to adapt continuously to its impacts to our way of life.

Shaped but not shattered: How Houston’s Vietnamese-owned nail shops navigated the pandemic

The history of the contemporary nail salon industry as an entrepreneurial niche for Vietnamese women can be traced back to complex flows of migration, colonization, and humanitarian efforts. In 1975, following the Fall of Saigon, actress Tippi Hedren was tasked with assisting Vietnamese refugees who had resettled in the U.S. with vocational training, and made a trip to Camp Hope in Sacramento as part of her role as international relief coordinator. While countless businesses have been affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, nail salons were placed under especially intense scrutiny as their operations intersected with racialized concerns of public health and safety.

Did cash incentives move the needle on COVID-19 vaccinations in Harris County?

After over a month of incentive programs, outreach efforts, public pressure and mounting fears around the more virulent COVID-19 Delta variant, Harris County has tens of thousands more newly vaccinated people than it did over a month ago. But despite millions spent on incentive programs, uptake is slowing.

Mapping project brings Houston’s flood, environmental hazards into clear view

A flood on its own can be disastrous. But floodwaters combined with decades-old toxic waste sites and releases of potentially cancer-causing chemicals—that’s dangerous. Unfortunately, heightened flood risks are unevenly dispersed throughout Harris County.

Data partnership bears fruit for Urban Harvest's work confronting food insecurity

Food insecurity has been an increasingly urgent challenge that has afflicted the Houston region, especially during recent crises like Hurricane Harvey, the COVID-19 pandemic, and Winter Storm Uri.

Texas’ approach to virtual learning is another step backward for equity

Texas Senate Bill 15 is awaiting Gov. Greg Abbott’s signature. Originally intended to set in place policy to fully fund virtual schooling for districts around the state, the passage of this bill could have been a proud moment for Texans, a response to the immediate needs of school districts during the pandemic.

Without mask mandates, Texas undermines school districts' efforts to undo pandemic learning gaps

The Texas Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Gov. Greg Abbott’s ban on local mask mandates means the state has officially told public schools to start the 2021-2022 school year as if the COVID-19 pandemic never happened. More correctly, as if it was still not happening. Others have already pointed to the health risks posed by not having a mask mandate in place at schools, and schools around the Houston area have already had to close because of outbreaks. But beyond the dangers posed to the health of students, staff, and families, the state’s approach is undermining schools’ ability to accelerate students’ learning and close gaps created and compounded over the past 18 months.

From hurricanes to COVID-19, state and local governments increasingly rely upon FEMA grants

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has become increasingly relied upon to help states and local jurisdictions recover and prepare for disasters, particularly hurricanes, floods, fires and more recently, pandemics. Proposed rule changes for the program could reduce future funding allocations, even as disasters seem to become more commonplace.

Cities struggle to regain employment levels seen prior to the pandemic

The jobs recovery is coming along haltingly, and it has been particularly sluggish for the nation’s biggest cities. Even with historic levels of new job openings, it might take longer for cities to adapt to the new dynamics of the post-2020 (we won't call it post-pandemic) economy.

Understanding the unvaccinated: A look at hesitancy as well as access

The Delta variant has led to COVID-19’s fourth wave—a surge in cases, hospitalizations and deaths. More than any other factor, what's driving this is the number of unvaccinated people—who either by choice or by design are not getting shots. Because vaccine hesitancy and access varies across states and cities, local solutions might be key to closing the gap.

Here’s where rent relief is helping Harris County residents at risk of eviction

The new CDC moratorium on evictions will expire on Oct. 3, but renters who are in jeopardy of losing their homes — and landlords who are owed money — can still apply for federally funded assistance.

How Houston plans to plant 4.6 million new trees by 2030

Trees can cool our cities and make them more resilient. Here’s a look at what is being done to grow and protect the urban forest in the Houston area.

Who owns the single-family rentals and what do we know about them?

A lot of the rent houses owned by real estate investment trusts — or REITs — are located in unincorporated parts of Harris County and municipal utility districts (MUDs) that have been hit hardest by foreclosures and flooding. Many of them are connected to local and national homebuilders.

If remote work survives the pandemic in Houston, it could curb congestion

What for some may be an anticipated return to “normal” is for others an anxiety-filled readjustment to pre-pandemic life. No matter which category you place yourself, there are some aspects of normalcy we’d all prefer to leave in 2019. Chief among them is the daily struggle to get where we need or want to go. Unfortunately, it’s not certain how long we have before traffic in Houston returns and exceeds levels we saw a couple of years ago.