Episode 41: Houston’s Dangerous Apartment Problem Part 1 – A Little Louder is launching a new miniseries on substandard housing in Texas and this episode kicks off the special project with Professor Heather K. Way talking about her in-depth report regarding housing in the Sunnyside area of Houston. In this 2017 presentation to residents and community leaders of Sunnyside, Professor Way talks about the months-long study about the dangerous apartment epidemic in Houston, the City of Houston’s role in this epidemic, and what should happen to fix the issue.
Buzz Session 1: Eviction Surge In Texas – A Little Louder listeners! We have a very special episode today in a new series we call ‘Buzz Sessions’. This is our way of quickly reacting to news and topics happening right now. The first ‘Buzz Session’ we hosted features John Henneberger and Texas Housers senior researcher Ben Martin talking about the urgency of quickly rising eviction numbers in our state with several protections going away, the deadline for rental assistance expiring soon approaching, and what needs to be done to cure both of these issues.
Episode 42: Expanding The Rights of Tenants In Austin with BASTA – On this episode, John is joined by Shoshana Krieger of BASTA Austin who stops by to talk about the fights for tenants’ rights happening in both Austin City Council and alongside fellow organizers on the ground. Krieger spoke with us about demanding more protections for tenants in Austin and the hurdles BASTA faces individually as renters as well as a progressive organization in a tenant-hostile state.
Buzz Session 2: Lessons to learn from COVID – In our latest Buzz Session from A Little Louder, host John Henneberger sits with Texas Housers’ Southeast Texas regional director Julia Orduña, communications manager Michael Depland, and research analyst Erin Hahn to talk about what are the takeaways we’ve learned as advocates and those fighting for housing justice under this unique crisis. What are the temporary changes that need to become permanent? The group talks about what is happening now, with nearly two years under these circumstances, and what needs to happen next. You can watch the video of ‘A Little Louder Video Buzz Session 2: Lessons to learn from COVID’ on our website, or you can listen to the audio version wherever you get your podcasts.
Buzz Session 3: Treasury must clarify plan for recapturing Emergency Rental Assistance funds – In A Little Louder Buzz Session #3, Texas Housers’ Senior Researcher Ben Martin and Research Analyst Erin Hahn discuss the confusion caused by the Treasury Department. They make the case for why it is important to clarify the federal policies on clawing back Emergency Rent Assistance. The US Treasury Department oversees state and local government expenditures of federal Emergency Rent Assistance funds. Texas Housers has discovered inconsistencies in the Treasury Department’s administration of these funds that is causing confusion on when unexpended funds will be taken away from local programs who have not spent all the funds they were allocated. Listen now!
Episode 43: What could a Tenant Bill of Rights do for San Antonio? – Texas Housers, alongside community members and Texas Organizing Project, have strongly declared together that San Antonio needs a Tenant Bill of Rights. We outlined on our blog what the items in a Tenant Bill of Rights in San Antonio would be, but what does that look like in detail? On this episode of A Little Louder, John is joined by Texas Housers’ advocacy director David Wheaton and Texas Organizing Project‘s Geoffrey Okolo to explain how a Tenant Bill of Rights could effect real, practical change in the city of San Antonio.
Episode 44: Issues with Texas Rent Relief – John explores issues we have heard personally, as well as in the media, regarding the Texas Rent Relief program. While it has been stellar in distributing funds quickly to those who need it, how can they improve accuracy and targeting? And how can we ensure that those seeking help aren’t lost in the shuffle and displaced from their homes? We’re joined by Texas Housers eviction prevention specialist Tori Tavormina and research analyst Erin Hahn to learn more.
Buzz Session 4: Justices of the Peace are ignoring tenant protections – For this Buzz Session episode, John is joined by Texas Housers’ Tori Tavormina and Erin Hahn who both are observing eviction court in Houston and San Antonio respectively. What they are seeing there is that while tenant protections exist for those who are receiving rent relief, they are not necessarily observed. We dive deep into what’s happening and what needs to come next for eviction court.
Episode 45: Texas GLO and Discrimination – John is joined by Texas Housers’ Advocacy Director David Wheaton on this episode to discuss the recent final determination from the Department of Housing and Urban Development that the Texas General Land Office discriminated against Black and Hispanic Texans in their distribution of CDBG-MIT funds to protect their neighborhoods from future storms and disasters. John and David break down the creation of these dollars, how the discrimination happened, and what needs to come next to protect these neglected communities.
Episode 46: Intro to the Houser Academy – John welcomes Texas Housers educator Riley Metcalfe to the show to talk about the Houser Academy, our tenant-focused initiative centered on gathering budding advocates from around the state to consolidate people power. We explore the origins of the Houser Academy, what this second year of the project is seeking to accomplish, and how Texas Housers wants newcomers to get involved.
Episode 47: Homeowners Association fights against affordable housing – John welcomes Ann Lott from Inclusive Communities Project in Dallas as well as our advocacy director David Wheaton to talk about a troubling trend starting in Denton regarding Homeowners Associations. The local HOA for Providence Village determined last month that housing choice vouchers will no longer be accepted in their community and landlords who do will be fined for doing so. The bulk of recipients of HCVs in the area are Black families and the majority population of Providence Village are white, non-hispanic families.
Episode 48: Five Years Later, Harvey Forgotten Survivors Caucus Speaks – On this episode of A Little Louder, Texas Housers’ Southeast Texas Regional Director Julia Orduña joins fellow Houser and Communications Manager Michael Depland to explore more than just a simple look back at Hurricane Harvey, but the work that survivors have put in to seize their own power and make their homes whole again. Several members of the Harvey Forgotten Survivors Caucus sat with Julia for interviews to explain why the Caucus is so important and how they managed to keep organizing through COVID-19.
Buzz Session 5: Managing Code Violations in San Antonio – In A Little Louder Buzz Session #5, Texas Housers’ community equity analyst in San Antonio Uel Trejo was joined by communications manager Michael Depland to discuss her work in shaping this most recent SAPMC, how residents feel Code Enforcement abuses its power and does not provide residents proper information, and how everyone learn more about these sorts of violations.
Buzz Session 6: Breaking Down The QAP in 2023 – As the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) ramps up its process to update the rules and scoring criteria by which proposed Tax Credit developments are evaluated – one of the largest creators of affordable housing in the state of Texas – via the Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP), Texas Housers has released a new report of recommendations to ensure that the best standards and most equitable guidelines are in place to build more affordable housing. Our research director Ben Martin joins the podcast in order to break down the recent report, declare what should change in the process in general, and how everyday people like you can join in the process to help shape affordable housing in Texas.
Episode 49: Let’s meet Texas Tenants For Change – Texas Housers communications manager Michael Depland speaks with two members of Texas Tenants For Change – Myra and Beeper. The two Houser Academy fellows talk about what went into forming a group, their common experiences as tenants despite living hundreds of miles away, and what they hope to accomplish with their foray into statewide advocacy, including their petition for tenants’ rights and livestreams to give voice to renters everywhere.
You can find the group’s petition here.