The 2021 State of Housing in Harris County and Houston

The 2021 State of Housing in Harris County and Houston report uses a range of indicators to track the challenges, opportunities and trends in the region’s housing system.

The 2021 State of Housing webinar shared highlights from the 2021 report and included a panel discussion on housing challenges, particularly for vulnerable populations. Watch a recording of the program here

The 2021 State of Housing in Harris County and Houston report examines data from 2018 to 2019 and compares how dozens of key housing indicators shifted. The Kinder Institute's first housing report, using data from 2010 to 2018, was released last year, and subsequent annual reports will add the latest year of available data to the analysis while tracking trends.

Neighborhood-level indicators are available on the Houston Community Data Connection's State of Housing Dashboard.

As with last year’s inaugural report, the 2021 State of Housing documents that, like other major metro centers, Harris County and Houston’s housing sector is failing many. For higher-income residents and most homeowners, the system is creating large benefits and stability. Yet lower-income households, especially lower-income renters, find themselves squeezed into unaffordable and often unsafe homes. Access to the ranks of homeownership, and the inherent benefits that come from that status, is growing more elusive.

These divergent paths were also magnified by the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and Winter Storm Uri, which will leave ripple effects on the region’s housing system for years to come. 

Key findings

  •  Overall the affordability gap is shrinking, but not for renters. It became harder for renters to enter homeownership in 2019. Although the overall affordability gap for residents in the county slightly shrunk because of lower interest rates, the gap between median sales price and median renter household income continued to grow.
  •  Beyond not being able to own a home, a growing share of renters have difficulty paying the rent on the homes they already live in. While incomes did increase, they did not increase as fast as rent, which grew around 5% locally. Houston and Harris County’s renters are more cost burdened than renters in Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta, and those cities’ host counties.
  •  Perhaps because of local renters’ housing insecurity, Harris County has a massive eviction rate. As of 2019, the eviction filing rate was 8.8%. The eviction rate was 4.5%.
  •  Affordable housing supply does not keep up with demand, and rising construction costs suggest this problem will grow.
  •  Not only the poor, but middle-income renters and buyers are increasingly squeezed, too. Roughly one quarter of rental households in the county earning between $50,000 and $75,000 are cost-burdened.The majority of renters with incomes in the range of the renter median household income — between $35,000 and $50,000 — are cost burdened or severely cost burdened.
  •  Houston is adding households but losing people, showing that households are getting smaller, while larger households are locating in suburban Harris County.
  •  Houston and Harris County are becoming older and less diverse, while the rest of the metro area outpaces their growth. The city’s shrinking population and the county’s lagging growth highlight the challenge of a declining tax base and raise questions about how the area’s housing stock is or is not meeting the needs of changing demographics.
  •  Economic segregation and inequality remain a pervasive issue that transcends housing and affects Houstonians’ prospects of upward mobility. The places where poorer and working class residents can buy and rent are increasingly in the outer reaches of the county, farther from services, jobs and other opportunities critical to upward mobility.
  •  Flooding is a growing risk: Homes are still being built in the existing 100- and 500-year floodplains.

The Kinder Institute is grateful to Wells Fargo for its lead and ongoing support of the annual State of Housing in Harris County and Houston research.

Photo: sandrafdzh/flickr

RELATED EVENT
Webinar: 2021 State of Housing in Harris County and Houston
Jun. 22, 2021

Join the Kinder Institute for Urban Research as it shares findings from its second State of Housing in Harris County and Houston report.

HOUSING
RELATED URBAN EDGE
As affordability wanes, Houston and Harris County renters face crowding, cost burdens
RESEARCH :  Jun. 22, 2021

The Kinder Institute’s second annual “State of Housing” report comes as Houston—and much of the country—remains in the midst of a residential real estate bonanza. A yearlong buying spree, fueled by a combination of factors, is driving the country to historically low inventory levels and propelling prices ever higher.

HOUSING | URBAN DISPARITY
RELATED URBAN EDGE
Houston had an overcrowding problem at precisely the wrong time: during a pandemic
Jun. 29, 2021

COVID-19 killed Black and Brown people at a far higher rate than white or Asian people, and in this year’s State of Housing report, we suggest home overcrowding and labor conditions played a role.

COVID 19 AND CITIES | HEALTH | HOUSING
RELATED URBAN EDGE
Despite increasing risk in Harris County, more people are living in the flood plains
INSIGHTS :  Jul. 7, 2021

The Kinder Institute's 2021 State of Housing in Harris County and Houston report highlights new data showing an increase in occupied housing units in the 100- and 500-year flood plains from 2018 to 2019. In Harris County, for example, about 2,000 homes were newly occupied—by either renters or homeowners—in the flood plains in 2019. Kinder researchers hope to better understand these development patterns, which can leave Houstonians vulnerable to flooding.

HOUSING | HURRICANE HARVEY
RELATED RESEARCH
The 2020 State of Housing in Harris County and Houston
Jun. 23, 2020

This first State of Housing report compares how dozens of key housing indicators in Harris County and Houston have shifted between 2010 and 2018.

TRANSPORTATION | HOUSING
IN THE NEWS
Housing in Houston: Tough times for tenants, would-be homeowners
Jun. 22, 2021 - RICE NEWS
Housing in Houston: Tough times for tenants, would-be homeowners
Jun. 22, 2021 - MIRAGE NEWS
Houston is often touted as one of the most affordable cities. But is it really?
Jun. 22, 2021 - HOUSTON CHRONICLE
New evidence from Kinder Institute shows how difficult it is to keep roof over your head in Harris County
Jun. 22, 2021 - FOX 26
Kinder study finds housing crisis deepening in Harris County
Jun. 22, 2021 - FOX 26
Conditions For Houston Renters Were Tough In 2019. The Pandemic Only Made It Worse
Jun. 23, 2021 - HOUSTON PUBLIC MEDIA
Kinder Institute 2021 State of Housing report highlights rental squeeze for lower, middle-income households
Jun. 23, 2021 - COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWS
CDC ending eviction moratorium is 'ticking time bomb' for Houston renters, researchers say
Jun. 24, 2021 - ABC 13
The Pandemic’s Effect On The Cruise Industry (June 28, 2021)
Jun. 28, 2021 - HOUSTON PUBLIC MEDIA
As Houston’s housing stock evolves, smaller cities see redevelopment
Jul. 2, 2021 - COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWS
Growth in Heights, Montrose slows gentrification in other nearby communities, study finds
Jul. 6, 2021 - COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWS
Stressed-out Houston renters battling back against landlords with new help: A tenants union
Jul. 7, 2021 - HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Growth In Houston Slowing Down (July 20, 2021)
Jul. 20, 2021 - HOUSTON PUBLIC MEDIA
13 Investigates racial disparities among Harris County homeowners
Aug. 15, 2021 - ABC 13
New Storm to Test Post-Harvey Houston Infrastructure
Sep. 13, 2021 - BLOOMBERG
Editorial: Rent relief shouldn’t depend on zip code. Hear that, Montgomery County?
Dec. 6, 2021 - HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Renting in Houston is tougher than ever—here’s how to get what you want
Apr. 1, 2022 - HOUSTON CHRONICLE
RELATED INITIATIVES
State of Housing

The Kinder Institute’s State of Housing in Harris County and Houston reports provide annual updates across a variety of housing-related indicators tracking shifts in the region's housing system. 

HOUSING
Body
Body
Body
Mailing Address

6100 Main St. MS-208
Houston, TX 77005-1892

kinder@rice.edu
713-348-4132 

Subscribe to our e-newsletter

Physical Address

Rice University
Kraft Hall
6100 Main Street, Suite 305
Houston, TX 77005-1892

Featured Sponsor

Support the Kinder Institute