The United States Supreme Court agreed today to hear and appeal in Inclusive Communities Project v. Texas Department of Housing…
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.Austin City Council moves to adopt fair housing “source of income” protection
The Austin City Council today unanimously passed on first reading an amendment to the Austin Fair Housing Ordnance to prohibit landlords from rejecting…
Celebrate the community of Texas housers, Friday Sept. 26 at the Scholz Garten
Thanks for all the congratulations over the past week on the MacArthur Fellowship. Texas has an incredibly dedicated, talented community…
On being named a 2014 MacArthur Fellow
I am deeply honored today to be named a 2014 MacArthur Fellow by the MacArthur Foundation. This recognition comes to me…
Galveston Housing Authority declares firm commitment to Fair Housing as construction begins
A groundbreaking ceremony last Wednesday was the occasion for the leaders of the Galveston Housing Authority (GHA) to proclaim their…
Spend a hour this MLK Day listening to Dr King deliver a 1966 speech in Dallas
“I never intend to adjust myself to segregation or discrimination.” – MLK, speaking at SMU in Dallas, March 17, 1966.…
Don Jones, housing, homeless supporter, chief of staff for State Rep. Jose Melendez, passes away
The Quorum Report is reporting this sad news. Don was a proud veteran who cared deeply about the plight of…
Nelson Mandela 1918-2013 – “Our struggle for freedom was a collective effort… It is in your hands to create a better world
“We hold it as an inviolable principle that racism must be opposed by all the means that humanity has at…
Dallas Morning News Editorial gets it partly right: Dallas needs to fix its housing policies
The HUD letter of findings of civil rights violations continues to reverberate in Dallas. In a strongly worded editorial today…
Dallas Observer asking the right questions about HUD’s Dallas fair housing findings
In his Dallas Observer blog Jim Schutze asks some intriguing questions about the facts that are not yet fully known about the…
Opponents of public housing in Galveston file lawsuit claiming rebuilding public housing would further segregation
This situation is simply so bizarre it speaks for itself. From today’s Houston Chronicle GALVESTON – Opponents of public housing…
Texas housing tax credit fair housing case oral arguments before 5th Circuit Court include lively questions and answers
Yesterday’s oral arguments in the State of Texas’ appeal of the District Court’s ruling in the Inclusive Communities Project vs. Texas…
Bo’s clips: The news media is reporting fair housing stories for a change
Segregated housing remains in America well into the 21st Century despite Fair Housing Laws. The separation of people of color…
“Its Westchester on steroids”: HUD finds Dallas in non-compliance with fair housing laws, seeks sweeping remedies
“Its Westchester on steroids,” is how one civil rights advocate characterized HUD’s findings against the City of Dallas, referring to…
Thanksgiving check-in on the homeless in Texas — maybe intractable social problems can be solved after all
It seems that Thanksgiving is one of the few times many people worry about the homeless. Let’s join the crowd…
Bo’s clips: In booming Midland, new class of homeless workers mass in camps with cars, trucks parked among tents
In this week’s Bo’s news clips: In booming Midland, a new class of homeless workers mass in camps where cars…
TX colonia residents would be thankful if county officials let them have the things others take for granted
Streetlights and storm sewers… This Thanksgiving there not many people are thinking about how grateful they are for their streetlights and…
Looking for environmental hazards and air polluters in Houston? Just find a low income Black or Hispanic neighborhood.
We mapped industrial hazardous waste sites and EPA sources of air pollution in the Houston metro area and guess what…
City of Houston introduces developers to residents of 3 designated economically, racially integrated communities
Through the CDBG Hurricane Ike Disaster Recovery program the City of Houston is using more than $100 million in federal…
Invest an hour listening to a great story on Fair Housing
Please listen to a great one hour episode of “This American Life” based on ProPublica’s Nikole Hannah-Jones’ reporting. It is…
Jacob Riis: “Why should a man have a better right to kill his neighbor with a house than with an ax in the street?”
Reading Doris Kearns Goodwin’s wonderful new book, The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism I am…
Texas Senate to study disaster rebuilding – trying to get it right next time around
Unfortunately, Texas has a lot of experience administering governmental programs to help Texans rebuild their homes in the wake of…
Undelivered Kennedy speech denounces “nonsense” of deficit fears “wholly unrelated to reality”
In the course of thinking about President Kennedy’s assassination fifty years ago last evening I read the speech Kennedy was…
Bo’s clips: The H+T (Housing + Transportation) index better measures true cost
An updated metric for affordability by HUD and the U.S. DOT calculates the costs of commuting to jobs and services…
Bo’s clips: Fort Worth’s new urbanist approach works downtown but struggles in poor, minority neighborhood
Uneven road to renewal: Fort Worth debates success of urban villages By Cathy Hirst Fort Worth Star-Telegram …
Austin housing bonds won record support in both rich and poor parts of town
Austin’s affordable housing advocates are still celebrating the approval of a general obligation bond issue by the voters providing $65…
Austin voters easily approve $65M in general obligation affordable housing bonds
The second time was a charm. Austin voters today resoundingly passed a $65 million general obligation bond issue to fund…
Tomorrow is Austin’s big election on housing bonds
Tuesday, November 5 Austin voters will decide the fate of $65 million in City-issued affordable housing bonds. Austin voters very…
New proposed HUD Fair Housing Rule released
Today HUD posted it’s long awaited new rules regarding how local and state governments affirmatively further fair housing. These…