I’m often asked to summarize what I have learned in my 40+ years of activism in the field of housing…
Tag: Housing policy
Policy Suggestions from the Park Girl Rip-off
If you don’t live in the RioGrande Valley, or don’t follow manufactured housing (MH) scams, you might have missed the…
Coalition of conservative activists’ calls for consolidation of TDHCA and TSAHC
In a reprise of a plan decisively rejected by the Texas Legislature last session, a coalition of conservative public policy…
Out of Reach: The Housing Wage in Context
On Wednesday TxLIHIS released Texas data from the annual national study of housing affordability “Out of Reach” prepared by the…
HUD plays Grinch with its poorest tenants
A single mother with two children in Texas is potentially eligible to receive $260 per month from Temporary Assistance for…
Dallas fumbles in the absence of a housing policy
Housing segregation is a problem most Texas communities struggle with. Crippled by a lack of political courage and leadership no…
DMN editorial says paper will push housing in 2012
An editorial in today’s Dallas Morning News says the paper will editorially push two housing issues on the editorial pages…
HUD’s Ron Sims discusses something Austin officials will not — homeownership and race
For a  years I worked with State Representative Eddie Rodriguez (Austin) to help him devise a way to let lower-income…
HUD Secretary Donovan’s letter to PHAs about accepting ex-offenders
I commented earlier on HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan‘s letter to public housing authorities asking them to reconsider their policies on…
HUD: Ex-inmates need help to stay off streets in Houston | Houston Chronicle
The Houston Chronicle ran a thoughtful story today about the difficult problem facing people coming out of jail trying to…
Preview of new HUD GIS mapping tool shows promise and potential
You have to hand it to the CPD staff of HUD. They are doing some really interesting and useful things…
Austin case study: Postdisaster housing policy and low-income survivors
Several very smart people from the University of Texas and myself just had a paper published in the Journal of…
Where Texas border housing and community development issues stand after the legislative session
Earlier this week I spoke to the National Association of Latino Community Asset Builders about developments during the last session…
Listening to Congress debate housing is a sobering experience
Every now and then it is worth listening in on Congressional debate on housing legislation. Not that it is usually…
US House Subcommittee Votes to Eliminate Housing Trust Fund — Rooflines
A House subcommittee voted to stamp out the National Housing Trust Fund this week, signaling a very difficult road ahead…
TX Tribune story may lead to a misdiagnosis of colonia conditions and health problems
The second of a two-part Texas Tribune story on the colonias that ran today on the Tribune’s website and in…
What really impedes progress in Texas colonias?
A story in today’s Texas Tribune and the Texas edition of the New York Times presents a sad and confused picture…
Great new research tool: ESRI’s Community Analyst mapping site
I’m not given to promoting commercial products on this blog, but I’m going to make an exception for the new…
Sadly, how far we have strayed from this great moral course
We built this Nation to serve its people. We do not intend to live in the midst of abundance, isolated…
74% of those with “worst case housing need” have extremely low incomes according to HUD report
HUD has published it’s latest assessment of the households that have a “Worst Case Housing Need”. The key findings are:…
Government housing programs can and do help the poorest families in Texas
I blogged last week about the need for housing programs to recognize the housing needs of families well below 30…
A culture of greed tarnishes the Texas Low Income Housing Tax Credit program
The Low Income Housing Tax Credit program in Texas is sometimes more about the developers making money building housing and…
The case for a new category of housing need — below poverty income
I have made myself an annoyance to many in the for-profit housing development industry by my constant insistence that housing…
Final recap of all housing related bills we followed in the Texas Legislature
I previously blogged about the fate of bills considered by the past session of the Texas Legislature that pertained to…
Why was the leader of a failed Texas housing nonprofit a major political contributor to Texas officials?
Steve Sterquell, the one-time head of the now bankrupt Amarillo, Texas nonprofit affordable housing corporation American Housing Foundation, gave out…
Texans worried about their economic condition, housing concerns high on list
A new public opinion poll found that 37 percent Texans say their family’s economic situation is worse than one year…
Governor Perry vetos three affordable housing bills
Texas Governor Rick Perry has vetoed three affordable housing bills passed by the Texas Legislature. HB 3983 by Rep. Rodriguez…
Addressing low-income families’ housing aspirations is essential to financial reform
You don’t have to work long in the field of affordable housing to find out how strong the desire is…
The Nouveau Poor foreclosure crisis slights the poor
You can’t help these days being struck by the amount of government and media attention heaped on the plight of…
Roundup of housing related bill action affecting TDHCA by the Texas Legislature
I am finally getting around to compiling the list of all the bills that passed and those that did not…