Housing

Coronavirus puts those living in flood-damaged homes at greater risk

Many families in the Houston region live in homes with flood damage, of which they may or may not be aware. These residents may face high levels of mold exposure that can lead to lung damage that puts them at a greater risk of severe complications should they become infected with the novel coronavirus.

Here’s what our cities will look like after the coronavirus pandemic

Editor’s note: This is the first of two posts exploring the long-term effects the COVID-19 crisis will have on the American city. Once we get through this, cities as we know them will be changed forever.

Suspending evictions is the right move for Census 2020

Thursday, in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Texas Supreme Court halted eviction proceedings until April 19. This is the right call. With an average of 600 evictions per week in Harris County, suspending evictions will prevent thousands of people from losing their homes over the next month.

Is non-gentrification the real threat to neighborhoods?

Why are there so few studies charting displacement and cultural decline in non-gentrifying neighborhoods? According to this commentary, the implicit assumption in most gentrification research is that if a neighborhood doesn’t change, it stays the same. And that displacement by decline is much more common and more harmful than displacement due to gentrification.

Study reveals effects of white privilege in FEMA flood buyout program

Research from Rice University sociologists shows urban areas and predominantly white neighborhoods that are at risk of flooding in cities benefit the most from FEMA’s voluntary buyout program.