Lots of hard work has gone into the production of the Galveston Long Term Recovery Plan. The citizens behind this…
Tag: Housing policy
I thought pigs would fly first, but landlord and tenant advocates work together
A strange, good thing came about in Texas in landlord tenant relations during this session of the Texas Legislature. After…
Quick summary of Texas Legislature’s housing accomplishments
The 80th session of the Texas legislature will be gaveled to a close sometime tonight. There is always a sense…
Activity at legislature leads to less blogging
Despite my best of intentions I’m doing a lousy job with blogging the past two weeks. My excuse once again…
Can Texas handle the increase in homeless and low-income weatherization funds?
All of the money coming to Texas from the economic stimulus bill is a great thing. But as the size…
…and over affordable housing issues on the Texas Senate side
In response to my blog earlier today about the composition of the Texas House Urban Affairs Committee I was asked…
The president hears a type of story that we hear every day
At his town hall meeting on Tuesday in Fort Myers Florida President Obama was confronted by Ms. Hughes, a woman…
What we mean by affordable housing: an open letter to Congress
In an open letter to Congress calling for more attention to affordable housing in the economic recovery bill, 547 housing…
February 3 meeting to discuss Texas housing legislation
The 81st session of the Texas Legislature has begun in the midst of an escalating housing crisis in Texas. This…
Proposal to include housing in economic stimulus
President-elect Obama has proposed a massive highway construction and public building energy retrofitting effort to serve as the basis of…
Houston uses local housing funds to replace disallowed federal housing funds
Houston Chronicle reporter Mike Snyder has uncovered a move by the City of Houston to repay over $15.5 million of…
My hopes for the Obama administration’s housing policy
I fancy myself a political realist. A person who spends their life working on social justice issues in Texans either…
It should be about more than just helping the middle class
Let’s remember there once was a time when a US President enjoyed popularity for rallying our country to end poverty.
National Housing Trust Fund becomes subject of political distortions
Housing for the poor has been caught up in the partisan distortions of the political mudslinging season. This speaks poorly…
My recommendations for dealing with the low-income homeownership problems in Texas
I was invited to testify today before the Texas Senate Intergovernmental Relations Committee on the status of state programs to…
LBJ speech recalls struggle to bring low-income housing to Austin
In 1968, at the end of his political career, with barely one month left in his term as president, LBJ…
LBJ’s struggle to get Austin to accept public housing offers lessons for today
Seventy years ago here, in Austin Texas, Lyndon Johnson a young, first-term congressman took up the cause of housing the…
Thanks for supporting our 20th anniversary
On the behalf of the board and staff of the Texas Low Income Housing Information we want to thank the…
New Census study documents stunning levels of income inequality in Texas
This week the US Bureau of the Census released a report titled. Income, Earnings, and Poverty Data From the 2007…
Weighing political convention speehes on government’s obligation to lift up the poor
The presidential nominating conventions are here and both parties will tell us about their vision for the country. I will…
Reporter alleges Section 8 tenant crime wave, but where is the evidence?
The elite media has decided to focus on whether Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher holders are bringing crime to suburban…
Are we encouraging people to buy homes who shouldn’t?
House Financial Services Committee Chair Barney Frank, commenting on the current foreclosure crisis and the importance of the passage of…
Something went terribly wrong at the Pleasant Village Apartments
“This is a terrible place to live, and I just don’t know how to get out.” – a resident of…
Texas Housercast: Talking energy saving and green building in low income housing
This week’s Texas housercast is an interview with Walter Moreau, executive director of Austin’s Foundation Communities the state’s largest nonprofit…
Questions, answers, concerns about the new $4 billion foreclosed homes program in Texas
One of the subprograms of greatest controversy within the major housing legislation passed by Congress on Saturday (HR 3221) is…
VISTAs make good things happen in housing
We have a new VISTA volunteer at the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service and I am once again reminded…
Just how crazy can the WSJ editorial page be? Check out the attack on the housing trust fund.
On July 8 the Wall Street Journal editorial page let loose on the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund in an…
Top 10 reasons to be a Texas low income housing optimist
I have put on my rose colored glasses and come up with the top ten reasons to be an optimist…
The voice of consumers is missing in judging subsidized housing
Low income tenants are seldom consulted about the quality of housing that the government builds for them. I have long…
Housers need to shun “over-opinionization” and appreciate the big picture
One of the occupational diseases of working in affordable housing is overspecialization leading to “over-opinionization”. This malady infects housing practitioners…