Four South Texas renters filed a civil rights lawsuit last week in federal court alleging HUD and the State of…
Tag: Substandard housing
Tenants at Houston’s flooded, distressed Arbor Court Apartments sue HUD for intentional racial discrimination
(Photo above is of red tag, labeling Arbor Courts as a fire hazard) HUD Secretary Ben Carson declared that conditions…
Notes from the field: Houston mom says her home is making her sons sick. She and many others are demanding better.
“A decent, safe place to come home to, where I can give my kids a good life.” Ask any of…
Sunnyside neighborhood leaders release report with UT Law clinic on dangerous apartment conditions
This week, community leaders of the Sunnyside neighborhood in Houston released a report that shines a light on some of…
Failing Waco property facing closure
Back in 2008 we listed the eleven subsidized housing properties with the lowest physical inspection scores from HUD. One of…
Update: HUD’s Public Inspection Scores
Last week we pointed to HUD’s release of 2009 Physical Inspection Scores for subsidized properties. Eric Dexheimer at the Austin…
HUD fails 14 percent of Texas subsidized properties inspected in physical inspections
Back in 2008 we presented data on physical inspection scores of subsidized housing in Texas. HUD has updated this dataset…
Texas cities should place derelict apartments in receivership
Heather K. Way, director of the Community Development Law Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law, read my…
Mayor White saves 1000 renters from eviction but fundamental low-income housing issues remain
Houston Mayor Bill White acted quickly and responsibly in preventing the owners of the 600 unit Houston La Casita apartment…
Homeowners rebuilding from Hurricane Ike have basically no consumer protection in Texas
Houston Mayor Bill White threw in the towel this week, ending his modest effort to provide rudimentary consumer protections to…
Analysis of HUD report on low scoring subsidized housing in Texas
A total of 107 or 9.4 percent of HUD assisted housing apartment developments in Texas earned a very low score…
Revitalizing nuisance properties to be explored at Dallas meeting
I have discussed the problem of getting cities to take action on abandoned and derelict properties in low income neighborhoods. …
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…
Focusing on the big picture of housing assistance
Let’s take a step back and focus on the big picture of housing assistance using this chart I have prepared…
When cities do not act, let’s give communities the power to take over abandoned properties
The problem posed by abandoned, derelict housing where cities have failed to follow through on code violations extends beyond multifamily…
Houston’s fair housing failure segregates Katrina evacuees in SW slum apartments
Today’s dangerous housing problems in the Southwestern part of Houston have been greatly exacerbated by the actions of Houston city…
Two proposed tools to get aggressive with slum landlords
For the past two days I have been exploring in this blog ways to deal with the massive problem of…
Houston Mayor Bill White tells Houstonians not to worry about substandard apartments
I was proud to present Houston Mayor Bill White an award in 2007 on behalf of the National Low Income…
It is too late for two children but now is the time for Houston to act on slum apartments
It happened again last night. More kids were hurt, this time killed, in the slum apartments the city of Houston…
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…
Curbing substandard housing in rural Texas
Watch John Henneberger’s testimony before the Texas Seante International Relations and Trade Committee on substandard rural housing. Read my written…
Disgraceful indifference to substandard conditions in Houston
In an outstanding piece of investigative journalism Houston Chronicle staff writers Matt Stiles, Mike Snyder and Julio Cortez have exposed…