This piece was published in Shelterforce on Nov. 2, 2017. At Texas Housers, we’ve confronted a series of natural disasters…
Author: John Henneberger
I started my commitment to housing justice for people and communities with low incomes in 1975 in Austin's Clarksville community. These years of working side-by-side with dedicated community leaders to find solutions to housing and community development challenges have taught me some things and I’m learning new things every day.We are looking for four people who want to work with us for a just and equitable disaster recovery
Texas Housers is looking for four talented and dedicated people to work for housing justice with our team. The job…
Hurricane Harvey recovery: latest updates and intelligence
Texas Housers is tracking, reporting and blogging about Hurricane Harvey recovery. Let us know if there is something we should…
A better way to speed recovery from Harvey, by Texas A&M Prof. Shannon Van Zandt
Pictured above, Professors Walt Peacock and Shannon Van Zandt of the Texas A&M Hazard Reduction and Recover Center at a…
Videos of TRLA attorneys offer advice for recovering from Hurricane Harvey
Texas Housers is teaming up with attorneys from Texas RioGrande Legal Aid to produce a series of short videos providing…
We have a job opening to steer our new Northwest Texas office
We are excited to announce that Texas Housers is setting up a new Northwest Texas office in Fort Worth to…
Recommendations for getting the most out of Austin’s proposed CodeNEXT density bonus program
The CodeNEXT Density Bonus is a remarkable opportunity to achieve greater ethnic, racial and economic diversity and integration in Austin. If…
Sen. Elizabeth Warren questions former Houston housing director on his support for unprecedented federal budget cuts
Sen. Elizabeth Warren closely questioned Neal Rackleff, the former housing director in Houston and President Trump’s nominee for HUD Assistant…
49 years after Dr. King’s death, Austin leaders offer a sweeping blueprint to racially integrate neighborhoods
Forty-nine years ago today Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. Today Austin is proclaiming, in a manner that…
SAD FAKE NEWS: OMB Director vows “Nobody’s going to be kicked out of their houses”
A reporter asked President Trump’s Director of the Office of Management and Budget Mick Mulvaney a question at a press conference at the…
Estimates of housing voucher cuts for each Texas city under President’s budget
Thanks to research by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, we can now see the effects that President Trump’s proposed…
Health inequalities are strongly reflected in Houston’s residential racial segregation
Neighborhood inequality is most often measured by an area’s physical and economic characteristics. Yet health inequalities between neighborhoods receive less attention…
Texas 7th, Houston 3rd worst nationally among states, cities in housing affordability for poor
For many years Texans have consoled ourselves that while our state had a disproportionate number of families with extremely low incomes, at least…
Video: Texas Housers board member Dr. Shannon Van Zandt on colonia social vulnerability and disaster recovery
Our board member Dr. Shannon Van Zandt, a professor and interim head of Texas A&M University’s Landscape Architecture and Urban…
Court rules for colonia residents over FEMA denial of post-disaster home repair help
Our friends at La Union del Pueblo Entero (LUPE) and Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA) have been waging a multi-year…
Looking for a place to live without “bullets flying through the property”
A University of Texas law professor and community leaders recently spoke with tenants at an apartment complex in Sunnyside, a historically…
Suit filed to overturn Texas prohibition on source of income protection for voucher holders
In Texas, there is a law formally protecting landlord discrimination against people with housing vouchers, most of whom are African-American. A lawsuit filed Thursday in…
Proclaiming defiance of housing desegregation order, Houston mayor takes a small step to end the practice
It is really hard to figure out Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner’s position on racial housing segregation in government-assisted housing. He…
Houston area representative, pledging to ‘Stop Low-Income Government Housing,’ files bill
Elected on a pledge to “Stop Low-Income Government Housing” (see campaign ad above), Real Estate Broker and State Representative Valoree…
A plan for increasing Austin’s affordable housing, racial and economic diversity
Austin is experiencing a moment of anxiety and introspection unlike any I have seen since I came here 44 years…
Houston mayor Sylvester Turner rejects compliance with federal order to end segregation of government-subsidized housing
Government-subsidized housing in Houston is among the most racially and economically segregated in the country thanks in large part to…
Lincoln Property Company, country’s second largest apartment manager, hit with racial discrimination lawsuit
The Dallas-based Inclusive Communities Project (ICP) has filed suit in federal district court against one of Texas’ largest property management…
Sweeping federal investigation finds City of Houston’s housing segregation violates Civil Rights Act
Racial housing segregation in Houston is no accident. It is not voluntary on the part of Houstonians of color. It is…
Video: 10 ways to invest in the forgotten America and rebuild rural communities post-election
I gave this speech at the Housing Assistance Council Rural Housing Conference in Washington, D.C. on November 30. Watch the full…
A post-election question: “Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?”
I gave this speech before a group of community leaders and academics in Austin on November 15, reflecting on recent…
Fair housing case produces lasting changes for Texas and nation
This piece originally ran on Shelterforce Magazine’s Rooflines blog. The Inclusive Communities project has now filed a motion and brief…
Houston flooding plan fails to provide needed investment or protect civil rights
On August 18, 2016, I provided testimony at a public hearing over the City of Houston’s draft Action Plan for Community…
Stirring call for fair housing in Houston Chronicle editorial
The Houston Chronicle editorial board wrote a powerful column in support of fair housing in Sunday’s edition. We would not normally quote…
City of Houston, [bc]Workshop, TOP deserve the national recognition for engaging community and consumers to design better homes
Congratulations to our friends and partners at buildingcommunityWORKSHOP [bc], Texas Organizing Project (TOP) and to the City of Houston Housing and…
State interference threatens Galveston’s promise of equitable disaster recovery
Eight years ago, Galveston was devastated by Hurricane Ike. Four years ago, at the urging of the Texas General Land…