Chrishelle Palay, Texas Housers Houston co-director, was a panelist in a Washington Capitol Hill briefing on Hurricane Harvey recovery issues.…
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Housing and disaster recovery experts to discuss rebuilding resilient communities at UT forum next week
Next week several housing and disaster recovery experts will discuss how rebuilding efforts after Hurricane Harvey can be equitable and…
Rio Grande Valley youth one step closer in their campaign to “stop the smell”
Above: Leaders of the South Tower Power campaign at the City of Alamo Wastewater Treatment Plant. A Rio Grande Valley…
Harvey news week of 9/18
Photo by Steve Gonzalez for Houston Chronicle APARTMENT DWELLERS LEFT CONFUSED Disaster recovery efforts focus disproportionately on homeowners; neglecting the…
Watch: TX Housers Houston co-director discusses rebuilding homes post-Harvey
Our Houston co-director, Chrishelle Palay has worked disaster recovery before and has worked with low-income communities so that they have…
Houston knew neighborhoods of color were inadequately protected from even modest storm events
(This photo above is a typical open drainage ditch in the African-American Houston Sunnyside neighborhood before Hurricane Harvey.) The City…
Governor’s cut of colonia oversight program will cost state and endanger residents
This piece originally ran as a column in The Monitor on June 25. For decades the State of Texas looked the…
One hundred years of poison: Why toxic fish still threaten Rio Grande Valley residents
This article originally ran on Neta, a bilingual multimedia platform based in the Rio Grande Valley where I am a…
Legislators should be celebrating affordable housing, not fearmongering
I testified at a hearing of the Texas House of Representatives Urban Affairs Committee on May 2, speaking against HB 1792 by Rep.…
At long last, basic public services may be coming to some current and future South Texas colonias
This opinion column originally appeared in the Rio Grande Guardian on March 1, co-authored by IMartha Sanchez of LUPE and Texas…
Grassroots leaders train to stop flooding in border colonias
The Land Use Colonia Housing Action (LUCHA) initiative has made some big strides in the past year. At Texas Housers…
Lack of drainage in Rio Grande Valley colonias creates breeding ground for Zika virus
This piece originally ran as a column in the McAllen newspaper, The Monitor, on September 12, 2016. Pictured above: Lot flooding after a regular…
EPA summit a chance to highlight environmental injustices in colonias
Environmental problems predominantly affect low income communities of color, especially in Texas. There is a growing movement of community collaboration,…
Hands-on training for colonia leaders emphasizes role of government in solving problems
Cris Rocha, a community organizer with La Unión del Pueblo Entero (LUPE), welcomed the group and Norma Aldape, a LUPE member and…
Video: Community discussion on history of inequality and injustice in the Rio Grande Valley
Inequality is stark in the Rio Grande Valley, but for many, its causes remain hidden. In order to overcome the consequences…
Join us for the first Plática discussion about inequality in the Rio Grande Valley on July 6
Inequality in the Rio Grande Valley is more extreme than most anywhere in the United States. It is seen in…
State to hold public hearing on colonia environmental injustice thanks to youth leaders
Youth activists in the Rio Grande Valley have already won increased resources and attention to address the odor nuisance caused…
The importance of speaking up for fair housing
I recently I had the pleasure of providing comment at a public meeting around the Houston Housing Authority’s Fountain View project,…
Street light installation finally begins as colonia residents celebrate victory
Above: Residents of Colonia Goolie Meadows enjoy the illumination provided by their new street lights. Last week marked another milestone in…
EPA hears testimony on civil rights and environmental injustice in Houston
On January 12, Texas Housers Houston co-director Chrishelle Palay testified (pictured above) at an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) public listening…
Youth organizing group advances environmental justice project in the Rio Grande Valley
Above: Josué (far left) and the leaders of the South Tower Power campaign at the City of Alamo Wastewater Treatment…
Sunnyside community celebrates historical designation of important landmark
On Thursday, December 10, Houston’s Sunnyside community will celebrate the recent designation of the old Cullen Clinic building, now home…
How Houston’s affordability conversation excludes neighborhoods like Sunnyside
I recently had the pleasure of attending an affordable housing summit put on by Zillow, an opportunity for Houston’s housing…
Bo’s Clips: GSE Accounting
The president declares an end to the housing collapse and calls for shutting down Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. The…
Bo’s Clips: Housing Discrimination Persists
Race continues to be a barrier to housing for people of color in the US with African-Americans encountering the greatest…
Bo’s Clips: Wall Street Buyers
The housing industry’s spike in sales is largely fueled by speculating corporations with idyll bucks to invest. The typical deal…
Austin’s KUT on Affordable Housing
Last week, Austin’s NPR-affliate KUT News explored the nuts and bolts of Austin affordable housing in a four-part series –…
Bo’s Clips: Suburban Poverty Grows
A new Brookings Institute study says America’s poor are increasingly pushed out into the suburbs where the costs of living…
NLIHC Highlights Nacogdoches Tenant Association
The Spring 2013 issue of Tenant Talk, a publication of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, contains a moving essay…
Bo’s Clips: Homeownership and Labor Mobility
The “American Dream” of homeownership is challenged by a new study that links high rates of unemployment to high rates…