Covid-19 and Cities

Research

Harris County Winter Storm Uri Resilience Assessment

This report provides a geographic analysis of damage caused by Winter Storm Uri and highlights the unmet needs it uncovered. This assessment also analyzed damages from COVID-19 and Hurricane Harvey to better understand how these crises compound on different communities and to identify where recovery efforts might make the biggest impact.

REPORT: February 23, 2022 GOVERNANCE

COVID-19 Pandemic in the Houston Region (Parts 1-3)

This three-report series focuses on the impact of the pandemic on families's well-being, employment, education and more.

REPORT: March 29, 2021 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT | EDUCATION

A Bottom-Up Infrastructure Strategy for American Renewal

This report identifies infrastructure priorities identified by local and regional leaders around the nation. Conclusions provide an important set of guideposts about priorities the new administration should take into account in crafting a national infrastructure strategy.

REPORT: February 10, 2021 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT | TRANSPORTATION

Troubled Fiscal Times: A Comparison of Revenue Sources and Service Levels for Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio

This report examines the revenue structure and service levels for Texas' three largest cities: Houston, San Antonio and Dallas.

REPORT: May 28, 2020 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT | GOVERNANCE

Urban Edge

Houstonians have put aside concerns about public health as pandemic recedes from view

On May 11, 2021, Rice University’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research released the results of the 40th annual Houston Area Survey. Among the findings: 22% of respondents – a far higher share than in any previous survey – rated “public health” as the “biggest problem facing people in the Houston area today.”

PERSPECTIVES: May 15, 2023 HEALTH

Despite more people in the office, the workplace shift is shaking up all of Houston's other 'downtowns'

In Houston, since the pandemic recovery began, office workers have been quick to return to their desks and cubicles, commuting back to their physical offices, even if for just part of the week.

INSIGHTS: March 8, 2023

Houston’s restaurants, not oil and gas, offer a strong signal of the city’s economic recovery

Following a tumultuous span of more than two years since the pandemic’s onset in Houston, employment has shown strong signs of recovery, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. In fact, it was on track to grow jobs back to pre-pandemic projections by the end of 2022.

INSIGHTS: December 22, 2022 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

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.

INSIGHTS: December 20, 2022 HOUSING

Lone scarred state: Texas must contend with outsized death toll from COVID-19 and anti-vaccine attitudes

The United States of America leads all high-income nations in COVID-19 deaths, even though as a nation it had the greatest access to antiviral vaccines and therapeutics. To understand this disconnect, we can look to the COVID-19 deaths and disability in the state of Texas. Because of COVID-19, Texas is enduring one of the greatest human tragedies in its 186-year history. It did not have to be this way.