Recent changes to the way Texas scores applications for housing tax credits appear to have had a slight but notable…
Category: Housing
Report: Texas faces massive, growing deficit of housing affordable to extremely low income families
A new report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) reveals that the housing cost burden for extremely low income families in Texas, and…
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…
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…
Guest viewpoint: HUD must do no harm to health equity by furthering fair housing
This is a guest post from Dr. Bakeyah Nelson, a public health practitioner and founder of Community Health Collaborative Consulting in…
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…
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…
Listen: Previewing housing issues at the Texas Legislature
The Texas Legislature kicked off its 2017 session on January 10, with plenty of housing-related bills already filed, proposed or…
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…
IRS indicates fair housing issues with Texas political influence on tax credits
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently issued a bulletin that reprimands a thinly-veiled “Agency” in “State X” for its reliance on local support…
TDHCA details consequences of potential state budget cuts
The Texas Legislature opens next month under specific instructions to use a 4 percent reduction in general revenue as the starting point in…
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…
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…
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…
Join the Housing Working Group for the 2017 Texas Legislative Session
Each legislative session, Texas Housers hosts a bi-weekly Housing Working Group for advocates, providers, non-profit staff and others engaged in housing issues at…
The 2016 Texas Houser Awards
On a dreary afternoon the day after a divisive election, the stories of three outstanding community organizations lifted the spirits of housing advocates…
Announcing the 2016 Texas Houser Awards
On November 9, Texas Low Income Housing Information Service will honor three outstanding community groups at the 2016 Texas Houser Awards. The…
We’re hiring! Apply to be a community organizer in Houston
Do you have the energy, drive, initiative and discipline to collaborate with low income residents of color, support grassroots activism and inspire…
Sunnyside Shines: Community fair launches comprehensive plan for reinvestment in Houston
A community fair on September 24 brought neighbors together to discuss and officially launch the Sunnyside Neighborhood Plan, a comprehensive strategy for…
Smithsonian design museum opens exhibit featuring innovative Texas disaster recovery program
The title of the new exhibit at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City sums up the…
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…
Video: Visualizing Houston’s housing segregation
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) launched a fair housing investigation after the City…
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…
Houston co-director talks fair housing and comprehensive reinvestment on public radio
Fair housing is all about providing choice – the right to choose a living situation free from discrimination. But when…
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…
How state legislators can improve fair housing compliance in Texas
Texas Housers fair housing planner Charlie Duncan and University of Texas professor Heather Way were among the speakers at a…
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…