GOP spending bill targets community development grants – David Rogers – POLITICO.com.
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.Agreement reached to end all Texas energy assistance for the poor by 2016
Representative Sylvester Turner’s office says Representative Turner, the leading advocate for the System Benefit Fund, has agreed to an amendment…
A better solution for energy assistance for Texas poor families is still possible
The Sierra Club has proposed a far better solution to the Texas Senate’s proposal to spend down and eliminate the…
System Benefit Fund deal in the works: better than nothing until it becomes nothing
A deal is reportedly in the works over the Texas System Benefit Fund that is better than what was originally…
Riddle amendment to TDHCA Sunset bill is ill-conceived and discriminatory
I wrote last week about the ill-conceived amendment the Texas House of Representatives tacked onto the TDHCA Sunset bill. The…
TX House gives each state representative power to choose or veto housing tax credit developments
An eleventh hour amendment to the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) Sunset bill by a strong opponent…
Westchester NY county executive agrees to source of income protection under fair housing settlement – ProPublica
Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino submitted legislation today to ban discrimination against people who pay their rent with government assistance,…
HUD closing Dallas and Lubbock field offices to cut costs
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Wednesday announced a series of restructuring and systemic changes within its Office…
The facts about Texas weatherization spending contradict Senate Finance chairman’s claim
“Check the budget. We already spend a lot of money of weatherization.” This quote came from Senator Williams successfully arguing…
Galveston agrees to steps to rebuild public housing
It appears that the rebuilding of the 569 public housing in Galveston demolished in the wake of Hurricane Ike may be…
Texas Senate robs from the poor, gives away the money available for low-income utility assistance
Without bothering to put on masks, a majority of Texas Senators voted this afternoon to rob $811 million from a…
We’re proud to be a Texas partner of the National Low Income Housing Coalition
The National Low Income Housing Coalition is dedicated solely to achieving socially just public policy that assures people with the…
Texas can act now to prevent the next industrial disaster in Port Arthur and Texas City
Bill Minutaglio, a professor of journalism at the University of Texas, Austin, the author of “City on Fire: The Explosion…
Will Texas learn a lesson from the tragedy at West?
Everyone is horrified at the loss of life and destruction last night from the explosion of a fertilizer plant in…
State halts Galveston funding over failure to build public housing: TX Land Commissioner Patterson explains
By Jerry Patterson The city of Galveston has a choice to make as we try to move forward with plans…
Fair Housing Act is 45 years old today. LBJ: “We have come some of the way, not near all of it. There is much yet to do.”
The words in the headline are President Johnson’s on April 11, 1968 as he signed the Fair Housing Act. They…
Franklin the Fair Housing Fox… seriously?
April is Fair Housing Month, the time of year for cities to pass resolutions that no one reads solemnly proclaiming…
Lawmakers consider refunding money intended to help poor – Houston Chronicle
The Houston Chronicle is reporting on the issue we blogged yesterday. Here is an excerpt from the Chronicle’s story (behind…
TX Senate Finance Committee takes back money intended to help poor people pay for electricity
The Texas Legislature is debating what to do with the $850 million fund that helps Texans living near the poverty…
Fort Bend County is nation’s most ethnically diverse county in US – Houston Chronicle
Fort Bend County is the most ethnically diverse county in the United States. And according to the 2010 federal census,…
Chrishelle Palay helps Houston’s poor and needy plead their cause
Open your mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy. – Proverbs 31:9 . Chrishelle Palay…
TxLIHIS policy analyst Josué Ramírez supports colonia residents’ search for solutions
Although only 24 years old, Josué Ramírez has taken on a leading role in working with grassroots community leaders to…
Homer the homeless goose and Blackland neighborhood – an oral history tribute
Happy 25th birthday Homer! via Ball: Homer the homeless goose celebrates 25th birthday,… | www.statesman.com. In honor of Homer we…
545,405 – Texas’ shortage of rental units affordable to the poor
Check out the full Texas housing fact seer from the National Low income Housing Coalition: http://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/SHP-TX_0.pdf TxFacts
An important milestone for civil rights: HUD issues final fair housing “disparate impact rule”
Years in the making, HUD yesterday issued the final rule on proving “disparate impact” under the Fair Housing Act. The…
Ruby Roa, the American-Statesman’s Volunteer of the Year
Congratulations to Ruby Roa for being named “Volunteer of the Year” by the Austin American Statesman. Meet Ruby Roa, the…
NYTimes on housing tax credits gets it right on funding, targeting poor, wrong on promoting segregation
A Tax Credit Worth Preserving – NYTimes.com. We think the New York Times editorial on housing got it two-thirds…
Bo’s news clips: More affordable housing for Austin’s Mueller community
The rigging of an international lending rate may have cost Fannie and Freddie Mac $3 billion in borrowing costs. While…
Bo’s news clips: Austin looks for new ways to pay for low-income housing
With all the chips on the table, including social and housing programs, all eyes focus on the continuing bargaining as…