Chrishelle Palay, Texas Housers Houston co-director, was a panelist in a Washington Capitol Hill briefing on Hurricane Harvey recovery issues.…
Author:
Announcing the 2017 Texas Houser Awards on October 31st
On October 31, the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service will honor four outstanding individuals and one remarkable institution at…
Texas Housers in South Africa: A global conversation on eviction and displacement
Photo: An informal housing settlement on the outskirts of Johannesburg, which looks similar to the informal housing settlements or colonias along…
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…
Duranguito residents and allies resist City of El Paso’s attempt to turn neighborhood into ‘gringolandia’
A long-simmering controversy over a planned arena in downtown El Paso that would displace a historic neighborhood and its residents…
We want disaster recovery to be fair and just. Here’s a good place to start.
Over the past 10 years, Texas Housers and our legal and organizing partners have advocated equitable recovery through four major…
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…
Lessons from past disaster recovery can inform the road ahead post-Harvey
The job ahead in Hurricane Harvey recovery from Texas Housers on Vimeo. The National Weather Service called the flooding from…
Hurricane predicted to hit the Gulf Coast; Texas may not be prepared to recover
The National Hurricane Center projects that Tropical Storm Harvey is now expected to be a major hurricane by the time…
Fair housing assessment in Rio Grande Valley offers chance for residents to fight segregated conditions
Discrimination is not always obvious in the Rio Grande Valley. But now Hidalgo County residents have a chance to weigh in on…
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.…
Sign the petition to demand an end to chronic flooding in Hidalgo County colonias
I have the privilege of working alongside community members and grassroots leaders with A Resource In Serving Equality (ARISE) and La Unión…
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…
From the Houston Chronicle: Why Houston remains segregated
This piece ran in the Gray Matters section of the Houston Chronicle on February 16. Texas Housers Houston co-director Chrishelle Palay…
Report: Did Texas reduce government-funded segregation in tax credit housing?
In 2013, the State of Texas changed its scoring criteria for applications for Low Income Housing Tax Credits, in response to…
Texas Senate committee report addresses key fair housing issues
The Intergovernmental Relations Committee (IGR) is one of the most influential in the Texas Senate, dealing with the administration of…
Colonia residents launch drainage campaign in Hidalgo County
Colonia leaders organized with La Unión del Pueblo Entero (LUPE) and A Resource In Serving Equality (ARISE), and proudly supported…
After first local Zika transmission, state and local officials must act to protect Rio Grande Valley
The first local transmission of the Zika virus in the state of Texas, and just the second in the country,…
Texas’ 2017 tax credit allocation plan presents fair housing issues
On November 10, after months of roundtables, discussions and compromises, the board of the Texas Department of Housing and…
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…
First-ever colonia disaster recovery conference prepares residents for emergencies
Natural disasters hit low income households the hardest, especially in the colonias of the Rio Grande Valley. Learning to prepare…
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…