Harris County residents miss out on nearly $1 billion in unclaimed government assistance every year, according to an estimate by Connective, a Houston-based nonprofit that is trying to address the problem even as federal efforts could erode these resources.
Last year, Harris County experienced the largest raw population increase in the nation, contributing more than half of the metro area’s nearly 200,000 new residents. Projections released in February indicate the region will gain millions more people over the next 25 years.
Nearly 70% of Harris County residents faced some level of difficulty affording their housing costs in 2024, according to a Kinder Institute survey. Among those who did, high utility bills were the most common contributing factor.
In the last 15 years, more Houstonians have become religiously unaffiliated, according to the Kinder Houston Area Survey. In the 2009 survey, 54% of respondents identified as Protestant and 31% as Catholic. In 2024, Protestants decreased to 38% and Catholics to 26%.
In 2023, Harris County saw a record number of new homes sold — nearly 10,000 — highlighting the region’s growing housing supply amid a broader affordability crisis.
America’s housing shortage and housing costs have emerged as talking points in the race for the White House, with Vice President Kamala Harris addressing these problems in her opening remarks during the presidential debate with Donald Trump in September. Fixing them, however, will require federal, state and local action — and, of course, a lot of money.
Climate change and its impacts weighed heavily on the minds of residents in the 43rd Kinder Houston Area Survey. Those concerns have been repeatedly validated in recent months.
Homelessness is an ongoing challenge for the Greater Houston area, but one it handles better than most of its peers. That may soon change if new sources of funding are not secured by 2025.
A new national report suggests the Houston metro area is one of the worst in the country when it comes to affordable housing options for its lowest-income households.
When the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was signed into law on Aug. 16, 2022, the White House referred to it as “the most significant action Congress has taken on clean energy and climate change in the nation’s history.” But the majority of mayors said its impact has been marginal in a report conducted by the Boston University Initiative on Cities.
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