In April, Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies released a new report analyzing the challenges that tenants are facing…
Category: National issues
National issues encompasses housing topics we are seeing on the federal level. This includes focusing on agencies and topics like HUD, U.S. Congress, civil rights, fair housing advocacy, and work from other states and our national partners.
In proposed rule changes slashing lifeline benefits, HUD attacks low-income residents from multiple angles
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is directly threatening the very same low-income people that they are charged…
HUD and Texas scapegoat immigrants instead of improving affordable housing for all Texans
The Trump administration and Texas’ state leaders should be trying to fix the housing affordability crisis for low-income Texans, but…
A handful of owners quietly evict the most renters in Harris and Bexar counties. Naming them on rental registries would keep them accountable.
In our recent research on property owners and evictions, we have found that eviction filings in Bexar and Harris counties…
The Gap 2026 shows Texas’ severe shortage of affordable housing must be addressed
The cost of housing is perhaps the most common affordability issue facing low-income households in the United States today. There…
A Little Louder Episode 80: What’s Happening With Texas’ Continuums Of Care?
HUD’s Continuum of Care program provide critical support systems for those who are either experiencing or nearing homelessness. These CoCs…
HUD closes Texas Housers’ case investigating Texas GLO discrimination in larger dismantling of disparate impact and civil rights protections
On January 15, 2025, in the final days of the Biden Administration, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)…
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision is as powerful as it has ever been, even as his legacy is under attack
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision of a nation where all people can share in the wealth of the earth…
As data centers invite more scrutiny for health risks, Texas is incentivized to build more of them near housing.
We are currently in a national and Texas-specific data center development boom driven by tech companies pushing artificial intelligence and…
Tenant Screening in Texas: Barriers, Bias, and the Case for Reform
When someone applies to rent an apartment or house, landlords typically review their background before deciding whether to approve the…
City of Houston has allocated $100 million for housing from its CDBG-DR funding following strong community demand
Houston City Council officially approved the amended plan for its $314 million in CDBG-DR funds on August 13, with $100…
2025 Out Of Reach report shows slight wage increases aren’t keeping pace with costs to fix affordable housing crisis
NLIHC has released the 2025 edition of its Out of Reach report, which chronicles the gulf between the wages people…
As the federal government slashes NOAA budgets ahead of hurricane season, here’s how you can prepare within your communities
The 2025 Atlantic hurricane season officially started on June 1st. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts that 2025…
Fair Housing protections promised the fulfillment of American freedom, liberty, and justice for all. The Trump administration is obliterating them.
More than half a century after the milestones of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, the United States is…
GLO Commissioner Dawn Buckingham makes false claims in defense of decisions that left a million Texans at risk from disasters
Today, Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham published a press release as a defense of last week’s finding from HUD that…
Disaster Equity Data Portal shows that despite Hurricane Beryl’s winds and rain being less severe, the need for relief was just as impactful as previous storms
The Disaster Equity Data Portal (DEDP) was created in partnership with Texas Appleseed, Ayuda Legal in Puerto Rico, Fair Share…
The biggest challenge with Disaster Recovery funding is time. This bill will speed up the process for millions of households.
In states like Texas, we know the seriousness that natural disasters must be treated with. Without preparation and plans in…
Despite rising wages, Out Of Reach 2024 shows that without affordable housing, low-income households remain unstable
The lack of affordable housing is one of our nation’s most urgent crises. In Texas, we are witnessing a microcosm…
Read Texas Housers’ comments on HUD’s Proposed Rule ‘Reducing Barriers to HUD-Assisted Housing’
Texas Housers has issued its comment on HUD’s Proposed Rule “Reducing Barriers to HUD-Assisted Housing.” The proposed rule intends to…
The Gap 2024 highlights the deep shortage of affordable housing in Texas and what must change
The need for affordable housing is as urgent of an issue as it has been in many years. In Texas,…
When property ownership can hide their identity in LLCs, bad actors thrive and tenants suffer
Over the past six months, Texas Housers has spotlighted the stories of uninhabitable conditions and mass evictions at Cabo San…
HUD’s voucher programs can’t truly help those they serve without necessary change to ensure access, fairness
In our previous blog covering the Southeast Tenant Information Organization (SETIO), the tenant group formed from residents at Cabo San…
More new people in charge at Coppertree, but similar issues arise. Tenants are demanding improvements or a pathway out.
The previous blogs in this series examined the deeply challenging and hazardous conditions tenants endured, some for over a decade.…
HUD’s rules are intended to protect tenants in need. At Coppertree, tenants had to fight the department to seek justice.
This blog is the second entry in a three part series chronicling the efforts and struggles of residents attempting to…
Without reliable and secure ways to report poor living conditions, Section 8 tenants remain trapped in them
This blog is the first entry in a three part series chronicling the efforts and struggles of residents attempting to…
Out Of Reach 2023 outlines the need for permanent federal resources to combat rising rents in Texas
The saying goes that everything is bigger in Texas, and in housing that worn cliché still rings true. Texas is…
Parallel Roads of Disaster Recovery: My Week in Puerto Rico, Part 2
Posters of grassroots organizations stating “We are not leaving from here” and “They are selling us” are plastered along building…
Parallel Roads of Disaster Recovery: A Week in Puerto Rico – Part 1
This blog is the first of a four part series. The following events are Julia Orduña’s recollections while traveling for…
Texas Housers calls on FEMA and HUD to act quickly and equitably with Hurricane Fiona recovery in Puerto Rico, as future storms loom
On September 18, on the 33rd anniversary of Category 3 Hurricane Hugo and two days before the 5th Anniversary of…
Five Years After Harvey: Disaster Recovery In Texas Is An Ongoing Disaster
In a series of blogs, Texas Housers is observing the 5th Anniversary of Hurricane Harvey by examining the responses from…