Last night, Texas Housers submitted public comments opposing HUD’s changes to the Disparate Impact Rule. For more than 40 years,…
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.
Podcast Episode 16: The House of Cards America Built
When the U.S. government designed postwar housing policy and subsidized massive developments and suburbs, it created a strong middle class…
Here is how the Seven Principles for Disaster Recovery could be a roadmap to repair following Hurricane Dorian
The harsh toll Hurricane Dorian took on the Bahamas, Southeastern United States, and Atlantic Canada is a cruel, but unfortunately…
Houston’s downtown Opportunity Zone is a prime example why the program desperately needs reform
Since its creation in 2017, the Opportunity Zones program was touted by the Trump Administration as a measure to revitalize…
Texas Housers Finds New Federal Rule Denying Immigrants Access To Essential Resources “A Heartless Political Tactic”
While it is true that our country is one of great prosperity, many in our communities work hard to provide…
The U.S. Senate wants to establish a permanent resource to rebuild with the Reforming Disaster Recovery Act Of 2019
Disaster recovery at this moment does not work for all who need it. Structural issues like drainage or organizational issues such…
Texas Housers and Texas Appleseed urge HUD to follow established law in joint comment on mixed-status families
HUD’s proposal to disrupt the lives of mixed immigration status families is both contradictory to meaning of the law intended…
Podcast episode 10: Inside HUD’s plan that may threaten mixed-status families
In episode 10, Texas Housers breaks down the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development new proposed rule to evict…
Opportunity Zones were supposed to aid struggling areas. This luxury high rise using the program yet again only serves the wealthy.
Since the haphazard rollout of the Opportunity Zone program in the Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017, advocates across…
Gentrification can’t explain all of a neighborhood’s failures. The racial wealth gap allows us to examine deeper.
Across the country, there are numerous underserved and disinvested communities fighting for the ownership and legacy of their neighborhoods. Gentrification…
Texas Housers Accepts NLIHC’s 2019 Resident Organizing Award For 12 Moms Initiative
On March 28, Texas Housers was given the honor of accepting the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s Resident Organizing Award…
Black and Latino residents live in more pollution than they cause. This is clearer in Houston more than anywhere else.
Early in March, a team of professors and researchers from universities nationwide published a study in Proceedings of the National…
Texas’ first Opportunity Zone, intended to spur investment and revitalization, is…a South Side San Antonio storage facility?
If you ask many people living in neighborhoods that have been overlooked for investment in recent years what they’d like…
Hundreds of thousands of tenants could be at risk of eviction if the government shutdown continues
The government shutdown is in its 18th day today and more than 1,000 contracts between landlords and the U.S. Department…
Lessons on disaster recovery, from the Rio Grande Valley to Puerto Rico
One year since Hurricane Maria made landfall, residents and advocates have been rebuilding and preparing themselves for the distribution of…
The 8 things I’ve learned in my 40+ years in housing and community development
I’m often asked to summarize what I have learned in my 40+ years of activism in the field of housing…
Secretary Carson asks anybody to offer examples of housing discrimination HUD has ignored and pledges to be on it “like white on rice.” Here you go Mr. Secretary
HUD Secretary Ben Carson assured members of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee three weeks ago that he and HUD…
The goal of disaster recovery should be more than returning to normal
I was honored to give the keynote at the 43rd Annual Natural Hazards Research and Applications Workshop on July 9 in…
Texas Housers and advocacy partners receive support in lawsuit against HUD over failure to enforce fair housing law
Numerous cities and states, including the City of Austin, as well as housing and anti-poverty advocates, filed amicus briefs this…
Civil rights groups amend lawsuit to challenge HUD’s latest attempt to erode fair housing progress
The National Fair Housing Alliance, Texas Housers and Texas Appleseed filed an amended complaint and a new preliminary injunction motion…
Port Arthur residents told to wait for disaster recovery for too long, but hold out hope their government come through
As the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Harvey approaches, there are unanswered questions from residents and a rising level of concern…
Press release: Civil rights groups sue HUD over suspended implementation of Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule
Media Contacts: Kelli Johnson, Texas Appleseed, (512) 473-2800 x103, kjohnson@texasappleseed.net Christina Rosales, Texas Housers, (512) 477-8910, christina@texashousing.org Jessica Aiwuyor, NFHA,…
Who has the right to live here? Austin’s fifty year fight over fair housing
The right to fair housing stands out among civil rights laws as the one that has historically received the most…
HUD is strangling fair housing progress. Advocates must march on toward just and inclusive communities.
Michael Allen on fair housing after 50 years from Texas Housers on Vimeo. The arc of the moral universe is…
Part 2: In a segregated Houston unequal neighborhoods mean unequal flood protection
This is the second part of a two-part blog on Texas Housers turning to the courts to direct the U.S.…
HUD must not abandon its duty to fight housing discrimination
(Photo above: President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Department of Housing and Urban Development Act in 1965) In the face…
Jurisdictions must uphold fair housing obligations, despite delay of key 2015 HUD rule
HUD’s Postponement of the New Fair Housing Rule from Texas Housers on Vimeo. Last week the Trump administration announced that…
We demand HUD address City of Houston and Housing Authority violations of civil rights laws
The Texas Low Income Housing Information Service (TxLIHIS) has told the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that it…
It’s increasingly difficult for low-income people to find an affordable home
The sharp rise in demand for apartment homes and ever-increasing rents have left very low-income households with few options for…
Study finds wealthy homeowners benefit from federal housing programs far more than low-income people
Pop quiz: What is the largest federally-subsidized housing program in the United States? Hint: It’s not Section 8 housing choice…