Harris County

Low aerial view of two-story suburban Houston homes

Houston Becoming a Region of Renters

The area has seen a sharp increase in renters as rising housing costs put homeownership out of reach for more households and investors convert single-family homes to multifamily rentals.

December 14, 2022 - Houston Chronicle

Houston

‘Employment-First’ Program in Harris County Offers Work and Supportive Services

The Employ2Empower program pays participants $15 an hour to work on county projects and engage with service providers while they await housing.

November 4, 2022 - Houston Chronicle

Suburban Home

Home Sales to Investors On the Rise

Sales of homes to investors and corporations, often in cash, are pricing out would-be homebuyers.

May 24, 2022 - Houston Chronicle

Houston, Texas

Houston Could End Homelessness With Less Than 2,000 Housing Units

Houston's homeless response program has yielded strong results in the last few years. Just 1,900 new affordable housing units could 'effectively end' homelessness in the city.

December 2, 2021 - Rice Kinder Institute for Urban Research

Texas Flood

Flood Buyouts Exacerbate Inequality in Harris County, Texas

New research shows that less affluent households disperse farther to find affordable homes, leading to a loss of community and social capital.

July 19, 2021 - Rice Kinder Institute for Urban Research

Suburban Home

The Link Between COVID-19 Deaths and Overcrowded Housing

Overcrowding and housing insecurity among Black and Brown communities led to disproportionately high COVID-19 fatalities, research shows.

July 8, 2021 - Rice Kinder Institute for Urban Research

Houston Texas

Harris County Will Use Toll Road Revenue to Pay for Flood Control

A new Flood Resilience Trust will create a permanent source of funding for flood control purposes, but the county still faces a shortfall for planned projects.

July 6, 2021 - Houston Chronicle

Downtown Houston and Buffalo Bayou

New Park Opens as Part of Houston's Ambitious Bayou Greenways 2020 Plan

Bayou Greenways Park is part of a decade-long project building 172 miles of connected greenways around the city of Houston.

May 30, 2021 - Houston Chronicle

Domed stadium in Houston, Texas

Renewed Efforts to Redevelop Houston's Historic Astrodome

A nonprofit hopes to create a viable plan for the iconic stadium—and find a way to pay for it.

May 26, 2021 - Houston Chronicle

Houston Third Ward

Surprising New Research on Gentrification in Houston

Affluent areas face more demolitions than gentrifying areas in Houston and Harris County, according to the findings of a new report from the Kinder Institute of Urban research.

April 9, 2021 - Kinder Institute of Urban Research

View south along Interstate 45 (North Freeway) from the ramp between westbound Interstate 10 and southbound Interstate 45 in Houston, Harris County, Texas

TxDOT Faces Lawsuit from Harris County Over I-45 Plan

The lawsuit over the controversial I-45 project, which has been plagued by local opposition, calls for a new environmental review.

March 15, 2021 - Houston Chronicle

Downtown Houston

Fifth Ward Residents Oppose Houston's Interstate Expansion

The downtown freeway expansion will displace thousands of housed and unhoused residents and hundreds of small businesses.

January 13, 2021 - Houston Press

Rent Jubilee

A Housing and Eviction Crisis Still Hangs Over the U.S., Just Like the Pandemic

Checking in with the numerous risks in the housing market as the economic fallout of the pandemic as approaches it approaches its second year.

January 13, 2021 - James Brasuell

Social Distancing

California Hospitals Now Operating Under Contingency Care Guidelines

The three levels of care provided by hospitals: conventional, contingency, and crisis, were outlined in a letter sent to all hospitals. They must notify the state by Wednesday that they have adopted some version of crisis standards to ration care.

January 4, 2021 - Los Angeles Times

COVID-19 Eviction Crisis

The High Cost of Rampant Evictions: $315 Million a Year in Harris County, Texas

Evictions incur immense costs for the public and nonprofit sector, according to new analysis from the Kinder Institute for Urban Research.

September 20, 2020 - Rice Kinder Institute for Urban Research: The Urban Edge

Texas Industrial

Challenging the Permitting Record of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality

Zoning in the U.S. was originally intended to keep noxious uses out of residential areas. Around Houston, which famously lacks a traditional zoning system, polluting uses are still granted broad permission to operate in residential areas.

August 20, 2020 - One Breath Partnership

Houston

New Houston Housing Report Tells a Story of Under-Investment

A new report from the Kinder Institute for Urban Research highlights the state of housing the Houston and Harris County, and more specifically, the historically Black neighborhood of Settegast in northeast Houston.

July 21, 2020 - Rice Kinder Institute for Urban Research

Coronavirus Protest

California Rolls Back

The nation's most significant rollback to date of a state reopening plan occurred Monday when California Gov. Gavin Newsom closed seven categories of indoor businesses statewide and an additional six categories of indoor operations in 31 counties.

July 14, 2020 - San Francisco Chronicle

Suburban Home

Report: Housing Choice Vouchers Fall Short of Intended Goals in Houston Region

The Housing Choice Voucher program is intended to provide new opportunities for low-income Americans to live in higher-priced neighborhoods, but few recipients of vouchers are taking full advantage of those opportunities.

October 16, 2019 - Rice Kinder Institute for Urban Research

Hurricane Harvey

Connecting the Issues of Flooding and Affordable Housing in Texas

A study released this week by the Greater Houston Flood Mitigation Consortium ( the University of Houston, the Kinder Institute, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, and more) raises concerns that new floodplain regulations could harm renters.

March 21, 2019 - The Houston Chronicle

New Updates on PD&R Edge

HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research

HUD’s 2023 Innovative Housing Showcase

HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research

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