Public Health

School vouchers, slowing growth and food insecurity: What Kinder Institute researchers are watching in Houston in 2026

The new year will bring big changes to key education, health and housing policies that shape the city.

Houston’s poorest neighborhoods are still drowning in illegally dumped trash — even after federal intervention

Federal oversight brought more eyes and dollars to Houston’s persistent illegal dumping problem, but city data suggests trash continues to pile up across the city.

Houston mothers and children face high rates of food insecurity. We’re working on a plan to help.

Three local nonprofits and area mothers are joining to develop plans for curbing food-access issues for families, with some early lessons already gleaned.

Abandoned properties are making Houston hotter. Could these changes turn down the heat?

Abandoned buildings and paved-over vacant lots are cranking up the heat in Houston. Local leaders have some avenues for turning down the temperature — without having to break out the bulldozer.

New research from a Texas A&M University team shows that empty buildings and vacant lots are raising land surface temperatures by up to 20 degrees in parts of Houston, exacerbating record-high heat across the region. 

A key federal report on food insecurity is ending. How local data can fill the gap.

The recent cancellation of a federal report measuring food insecurity means more work on the plates of nonprofits and researchers working to combat hunger in Houston.

With the Department of Agriculture announcing it will discontinue the Household Food Security Report, an annual look at rates of food insecurity across the country, local leaders in the field said collecting and sharing more information could serve as a substitute for the federal data.