Social and Economic Disparity

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.

Community Bridges work demonstrates the need for nonprofits to be responsive, accessible despite disparities

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.