Housing

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.