Interviews

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.

‘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.

Q&A: Industry, academia and community have opportunity to close Houston's skills gap

Tens of thousands of Houston-area high school students graduate each year into one of three career pathways: workforce, two-year college degree and four-year college degree.

Q&A: For Houston’s working poor, rising costs mean tougher choices

Over 725,000 households in the Houston area earn an income above the federal poverty line but cannot cover the rising cost of all of their essential needs, such as housing, health care and food, according to data compiled by United Way.

New research highlights potential responses to student homelessness caused by natural disasters

Hurricane Harvey rendered some 24,000 students in Houston Independent School District to be listed as homeless. The storm brought the district's overall total to more than 29,000 homeless students in the subsequent year, according to new research from the Kinder Institute for Urban Research’s Houston Education Research Consortium.

Q&A: Helping bridge the gaps in maternal health care in Houston

The Community Bridges program continues to seek better outcomes for those in need in the Greater Houston area.

How Houston, the world’s energy capital, is embracing the transition to cleaner sources

Eighty-seven percent of all respondents in the 43rd Kinder Houston Area Survey felt that Houston should take a leading role in forging a new energy future.

Q&A: Protecting Houston’s prosperity from disasters requires quick coordination — and cash

The Houston area is no stranger to natural disasters, but the May 16 derecho was an uncharacteristic weather event for the region.

From battling pandemics to serving the uninsured, why Houston’s health care leadership is more important than ever before

Dr. Marc Boom, president and CEO of Houston Methodist, helped lead Houston through the COVID-19 pandemic by prioritizing the public’s accessibility to the COVID-19 vaccine, and he was the first hospital system CEO to introduce an employee COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

Tall building council looks upward to support a more walkable, sustainable Houston

In the 2023 Kinder Houston Area Survey, about 60% of respondents expressed a desire to live in a mixed-use development instead of a single-family home.

After 40 years of encouraging play, SPARK wants to eliminate Houston’s park deserts

In 1983, Houston’s Green Ribbon Commission reported that the city needed an additional 5,000 acres of greenspace to compete with the parks and recreation facilities in other U.S. cities. To meet this challenge, the report suggested creating community parks on public school grounds, which led to the SPARK School Park Program.

Urban farmers seeking healthier communities in Houston’s East End and beyond

Finca Tres Robles, an urban farm in Houston’s East End established by the Small Places organization in 2014, is in a state of transition. It initially combined agriculture, community engagement and sustainability. As it moves into its second iteration, it will continue that work with hopes of expanding its reach.

Former Harris County Judge Ed Emmett reflects on Hurricane Ike 15 years later

Hurricane Ike made landfall on Galveston in the early hours of Sept. 13, 2008, as a Category 2 storm with 110 mph winds. It produced a catastrophic storm surge throughout Galveston County, especially the Bolivar Peninsula and in Chambers County. While Houston was mostly spared from flooding, about 100,000 structures in Harris County were damaged by wind, according to the Harris County Flood Control District. Over 2 million CenterPoint customers lost power, with some areas going several weeks until electricity was restored. The widespread outages marked the first time a curfew was issued by the city of Houston.

What should the future of transportation look like in American cities? A new book invites you to have a stake in it.

Houston is a city for cars today, but that doesn’t mean it has to be one in the future. In a new book, “Inclusive Transportation: A Manifesto for Repairing Divided Communities”, Veronica O. Davis makes the case that reorienting communities toward people rather than automobiles is in the hands of everyday people as well as policymakers.

Q&A: In Houston, a national developer finds the will and a way to build more affordable housing

A national not-for-profit affordable housing developer is broadening its reach into the Houston market with five projects across the city. It unveiled a new apartment community for adults over the age of 55 in Third Ward with a ribbon-cutting ceremony that included some of Houston’s top elected and housing officials earlier this month.