Urban Edge

Insights, perspectives and stories about building better cities and better lives

Q&A: New Houston Housing Authority CEO Jamie Bryant seeking to fast-track affordability

About 1 in 6 Harris County residents believe the cost of housing is the biggest problem facing the area, according to the 2025 Kinder Houston Area Survey. Amid federal budget uncertainty, the new CEO of the Houston Housing Authority says local solutions and resources will matter even more.

From immigration to inequality to infrastructure: 5 ways Houstonians clearly agree

The 2025 Kinder Houston Area Survey, the largest edition in its history, revisits neighboring Fort Bend and Montgomery counties for the first time since 2018. And despite the survey’s expanded reach and the divisiveness of the current political landscape, researchers found several areas with profound agreement among residents.

How research is helping HISD’s Sunrise Centers deliver community-driven resources to unlock student success

For many of the nearly 177,000 students in Houston ISD, access to food, clothing, shelter, health care, school supplies and other resources poses a barrier to success in the classroom. The district is counting on its Sunrise Centers to help meet those needs — and a research partnership to ensure they deliver meaningful impact on student outcomes.

Cuts to SNAP would impact hundreds of thousands of Houston households

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the nation’s most significant anti-hunger program, could soon see a $230 billion funding reduction if current federal priorities move forward. This move could impact millions of Texans, including hundreds of thousands of Houston-area families.

Tested by 2024’s storms, Houston is building stronger social infrastructure for faster, fairer disaster recovery

When disaster strikes, the immediate focus is often on safety and repairing physical infrastructure to get homes and business back up and running—reinforcing buildings, restoring power grids and clearing debris. An equally important component of recovery is social infrastructure—the networks, trusted relationships, institutions, and places that enable communities to support each other—particularly in times of crisis.

Nearly 600,000 Harris County residents lack a bank account — here’s where the issue is most concentrated

A Kinder Institute survey found 1 in 6 Harris County residents are unbanked — lacking a checking or savings account.

‘You have to take care of people first’: Ric Campo on leadership and Houston’s path ahead

Through a variety of civic and corporate roles, Ric Campo has played a pivotal part in shaping Houston’s growth, fostering economic development, and enhancing the city’s profile nationally and abroad.

The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program, explained

The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program is the largest federal initiative in the U.S. aimed at creating affordable rental housing, resulting in millions of units nationally, including tens of thousands in Harris County.

Underfunded and imperfect, vouchers are an important piece of Houston’s housing affordability

The Houston Housing Authority (HHA) serves about 19,000 households with housing choice vouchers. The Harris County Housing Authority (whose service area excludes Houston, Pasadena and Baytown) supports another 4,500 households with vouchers. Collectively, that is nearly 10 times as many households as are served by public housing, making the voucher program an important — if imperfect — way of providing affordable housing.

Houston region projected to attract millions more residents by 2050. Will it maintain its appeal?

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.