Winter Storm Uri showed how Harris County needs a tailored approach to disaster recovery
This week marks the first anniversary of an especially grim event in Texas’ history. Winter Storm Uri touched nearly every corner of the state with power outages that affected millions of people and led to at least 246 lives lost. Unofficial counts put the death toll at three times that number.
How close is Houston to ending homelessness? Closer than you think.
Houston has made considerable progress in reducing homelessness in the past decade. We know exactly what it will take to become the first major city to effectively end homelessness—including how many affordable housing units we’ll need to build.
Houston’s LULAC House, a symbol of Hispanic political power, beckons for renewal
The LULAC House in Houston's Midtown neighborhood has hosted presidents and has helped launch social programs that would inspire federal efforts that continue to this day. This symbol of collective Hispanic political power could be a rallying point and a shared ground for advocates for Houston and the Latinx community alike—if it can be saved.
Racial segregation is so prevalent in American cities that it can seem normal, even natural. Many Americans, including government officials and everyday housing consumers, view segregation in this way. Housing market professionals, or those who professionally assist consumers with home buying or selling, are no exception.
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.
San Antonio still reckons with lessons from deadly 1921 floods
A new book revisits a flood that devastated San Antonio a century ago that claimed hundreds of lives and reshaped the city. It also led to the construction San Antonio’s first modern flood infrastructure and the development of the nation’s earliest environmental justice movements as Hispanic people confronted deadly disparities in housing and flood control.
With 25 years of service, the Girls Empowerment Network's focus on listening and being responsive to its clients drove home a key lesson: For any nonprofit to be effective, it needs to continually make its services accessible to people.
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.
Houston isn’t the best, but it’s one of the greatest, according to the rankings
Posts about where Houston and other Texas metros are ranked on lists of best and worst places for you-name-it routinely perform well on this blog. These lists range from happiest and safest cities to best cities for staycations, foodies and working from home. Today, we’re kicking off a new feature focused on rankings and Houston’s place on them.
Urban flood buyouts are fracturing some Houston neighborhoods more than others
Since the 1980s, the federally backed home buyout program has been used to move more than 40,000 households out of flood-prone areas. What began as an effort to help farmers weather the devastating impacts of flooding has become a tool for urban and suburban homeowners to escape worsening climate risks. Yet as logical as this policy sounds, a new study from sociologists at Rice and Temple finds it may also be eroding the social fabric of some communities more than others—especially those with lower home values and higher proportions of Black and Hispanic residents.
As affordability wanes, Houston and Harris County renters face crowding, cost burdens
The Kinder Institute’s second annual “State of Housing” report comes as Houston—and much of the country—remains in the midst of a residential real estate bonanza. A yearlong buying spree, fueled by a combination of factors, is driving the country to historically low inventory levels and propelling prices ever higher.
Concentrated poverty in schools is redlining’s legacy. Undoing it should be ours.
As the school year ends, the relief is palpable. Let’s acknowledge what we went through during the pandemic. Many of us are feeling burnt out, but this is not the time to stop paying attention. Now is the moment to think big about the future of education.
Maternal deaths are public health and health equity problems. They’re also preventable.
The maternal mortality rate in the U.S. is rising, and Black women have the highest risk. Extending access to postpartum health care would prevent deaths.
The killing of George Floyd altered views of racial discrimination in Houston
The 2021 Kinder Houston Area Survey shows a striking uptick among white and Hispanic residents in their acknowledgment of racial injustice and the discrimination that Black Americans face.
How inequalities made Harvey recovery harder for many nonwhite Houstonians
When Stephen Klineberg was conducting the Kinder Houston Area Survey in February 2017, he asked Houston-area residents to name the biggest problem facing the region. At the time, only 1% of participants thought flooding and storms were the most important issue.
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