I wrote last week about the ill-conceived amendment the Texas House of Representatives tacked onto the TDHCA Sunset bill. The first part of this amendment removed the Sunset Commission recommendations and gave state representatives virtual veto power over Low Income Housing Tax Credit applications. Today I want to focus on the other part of that […]
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TX House gives each state representative power to choose or veto housing tax credit developments
April 26, 2013 
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An eleventh hour amendment to the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) Sunset bill by a strong opponent of housing tax credits gives each member of the Texas Legislature unprecedented power to choose the winning tax credit application in their district or to effectively block affordable housing tax credit developments altogether. The amendment removes from […]
Read more Westchester NY county executive agrees to source of income protection under fair housing settlement – ProPublica
April 25, 2013 0 Comments
Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino submitted legislation today to ban discrimination against people who pay their rent with government assistance, a day after the U.S. Department of Justice threatened to haul the county into court over the issue. In a letter to the county’s Board of Legislators, Astorino wrote, “In light of all of the […]
Read more HUD closing Dallas and Lubbock field offices to cut costs
April 25, 2013 0 Comments
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Wednesday announced a series of restructuring and systemic changes within its Office of Multifamily Housing Programs and the Office of Field Policy and Management (FPM). The changes, which include consolidating Multifamily hubs nationwide and closing 16 smaller offices, affect approximately 900 of the Departments’ 9,000 employees. HUD […]
Read more The facts about Texas weatherization spending contradict Senate Finance chairman’s claim
April 23, 2013 0 Comments
“Check the budget. We already spend a lot of money of weatherization.” This quote came from Senator Williams successfully arguing on the floor of the Texas Senate yesterday to defeat an amendment to use some of the $811 million System Benefit Fund for weathering the homes of poor Texans. We did what the Senator suggested. […]
Read more Galveston agrees to steps to rebuild public housing
April 23, 2013 0 Comments
It appears that the rebuilding of the 569 public housing in Galveston demolished in the wake of Hurricane Ike may be back on track. Sources tell me that the Galveston Housing Authority voted today 4-1 to accept the requirements of the Texas General Land Office concerning the rebuilding of public housing. Last week the Galveston City […]
Read more Texas Senate robs from the poor, gives away the money available for low-income utility assistance
April 22, 2013 0 Comments
Without bothering to put on masks, a majority of Texas Senators voted this afternoon to rob $811 million from a fund collected to help the poor pay their utility bills. There is not any other way to characterize today’s action. The Senate voted to return the funds in the State account collected from Texas utility […]
Read more We’re proud to be a Texas partner of the National Low Income Housing Coalition
April 21, 2013 0 Comments
The National Low Income Housing Coalition is dedicated solely to achieving socially just public policy that assures people with the lowest incomes in the United States have affordable and decent homes. Get involved and join today
Read more Texas can act now to prevent the next industrial disaster in Port Arthur and Texas City
April 21, 2013 0 Comments
Bill Minutaglio, a professor of journalism at the University of Texas, Austin, the author of “City on Fire: The Explosion That Devastated a Texas Town and Ignited a Historic Legal Battle,” has a column in today’s NYT that Texas leaders should read and heed. Minutaglio examines the explosion of the fertilizer plant in West, TX […]
Read more Will Texas learn a lesson from the tragedy at West?
April 18, 2013 1 Comment
Everyone is horrified at the loss of life and destruction last night from the explosion of a fertilizer plant in the town of West. One of the many things we must resolve in light of this disaster is to make sure that steps are taken to prevent a recurrence elsewhere. It was clearly a mistake […]
Read more State halts Galveston funding over failure to build public housing: TX Land Commissioner Patterson explains
April 11, 2013 1 Comment
By Jerry Patterson The city of Galveston has a choice to make as we try to move forward with plans to complete the recovery from Hurricane Ike: Either quit dragging its feet and comply with the federal requirements as well as the city of Galveston’s own council resolution to rebuild public housing adopted on Sept. […]
Read more Fair Housing Act is 45 years old today. LBJ: “We have come some of the way, not near all of it. There is much yet to do.”
April 11, 2013 1 Comment
The words in the headline are President Johnson’s on April 11, 1968 as he signed the Fair Housing Act. They remain true today, 45 years later, with regard to the state of fair housing in the United States. President Lyndon Johnson made the following remarks as he signed the Fair Housing Act, less than one […]
Read more Franklin the Fair Housing Fox… seriously?
April 7, 2013 2 Comments
April is Fair Housing Month, the time of year for cities to pass resolutions that no one reads solemnly proclaiming their support for fair housing, the time for elementary school art classes to conduct fair housing drawing contests for children, and the month that Franklin the Fair Housing Fox comes out of his closet at […]
Read more Lawmakers consider refunding money intended to help poor – Houston Chronicle
April 6, 2013 1 Comment
The Houston Chronicle is reporting on the issue we blogged yesterday. Here is an excerpt from the Chronicle’s story (behind the paper’s paywall): A proposal to refund money to electricity customers across the state would enable the Texas Legislature to renege on two promises at once. For 14 years, the Legislature has collected a fee, […]
Read more TX Senate Finance Committee takes back money intended to help poor people pay for electricity
April 5, 2013 1 Comment
The Texas Legislature is debating what to do with the $850 million fund that helps Texans living near the poverty level with their utility bills. This is important because for Texans who are really poor, electric bills compete for their limited money for housing. Here is the background. In 1999 when the Legislature deregulated electric rates […]
Read more Fort Bend County is nation’s most ethnically diverse county in US – Houston Chronicle
April 2, 2013 0 Comments
Fort Bend County is the most ethnically diverse county in the United States. And according to the 2010 federal census, it comes closer than any other U.S. county to having an equal distribution of the nation’s four major ethnic groups. In 2010, Fort Bend County was 19 percent Asian, 24 percent Latino, 21 percent African-American […]
Read more Chrishelle Palay helps Houston’s poor and needy plead their cause
April 2, 2013 0 Comments
Open your mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy. – Proverbs 31:9 . Chrishelle Palay works to help the poor plead their own cause and she lends her voice to their cause as well. Palay is the policy analyst for Texas Low Income Housing Information Service in Houston. Her mission […]
Read more TxLIHIS policy analyst Josué Ramírez supports colonia residents’ search for solutions
April 1, 2013 2 Comments
Although only 24 years old, Josué Ramírez has taken on a leading role in working with grassroots community leaders to solve one of our nation’s biggest housing and poverty challenges — the impoverished colonias of the Texas-Mexico border region. Josué is a policy analyst for Texas Low Income Housing Information Service working out of our new […]
Read more Homer the homeless goose and Blackland neighborhood – an oral history tribute
March 31, 2013 0 Comments
Happy 25th birthday Homer! via Ball: Homer the homeless goose celebrates 25th birthday,… | http://www.statesman.com. In honor of Homer we are publishing a chapter from an oral history of the affordable housing movement in Austin that was prepared for TxLIHIS by Joshua Knobe back in 2000. The Blackland Neighborhood and the Street People’s Advisory Committee […]
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545,405 – Texas’ shortage of rental units affordable to the poor
March 17, 2013 0 Comments
Check out the full Texas housing fact seer from the National Low income Housing Coalition: http://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/SHP-TX_0.pdf TxFacts
Read more An important milestone for civil rights: HUD issues final fair housing “disparate impact rule”
February 9, 2013 0 Comments
Years in the making, HUD yesterday issued the final rule on proving “disparate impact” under the Fair Housing Act. The rule is a reaffirmation of the established standard widely used to prove a civil rights violation has occurred when the perpetrator is not caught in an overt act. Let me say first that I am […]
Read more Ruby Roa, the American-Statesman’s Volunteer of the Year
January 1, 2013 0 Comments
Congratulations to Ruby Roa for being named “Volunteer of the Year” by the Austin American Statesman. Meet Ruby Roa, the American-Statesman’s Volunteer of the Year | http://www.statesman.com. The Statesman recognized Ruby for her work as an advocate for housing for the poor. At TxLIHIS we have worked with Ruby for many years, are proud to know […]
Read more NYTimes on housing tax credits gets it right on funding, targeting poor, wrong on promoting segregation
December 29, 2012 1 Comment
A Tax Credit Worth Preserving – NYTimes.com. We think the New York Times editorial on housing got it two-thirds right and one-third way wrong. In a December 20 editorial the New York Times called for the Low Income Housing Tax Credit retaining and enlarging as Congress and the Obama Administration considers changes to the tax code. […]
Read more Bo’s news clips: More affordable housing for Austin’s Mueller community
December 25, 2012 0 Comments
The rigging of an international lending rate may have cost Fannie and Freddie Mac $3 billion in borrowing costs. While federal investigators try to unravel the details, several Georgia counties are suing HSBC for sleazy mortgage deals that damaged investors. For a pdf version of the full stories, plus contextual articles in social, environmental and […]
Read more Bo’s news clips: Austin looks for new ways to pay for low-income housing
December 19, 2012 0 Comments
With all the chips on the table, including social and housing programs, all eyes focus on the continuing bargaining as Washington deals with the fiscal cliff. Meanwhile, the legal of fallout of sleazy mortgage deals cut by banks during the housing boom continue to mount. For a pdf version of the full stories, plus contextual […]
Read more Job announcement: Rio Grande Valley based housing policy analyst – planner – advocate – community outreach specialist
December 13, 2012 0 Comments
Texas Low Income Housing Information Service Job Announcement Policy Analyst – Planner – Advocate – Outreach Qualifications: This full-time position is based in the Rio Grande Valley.We will consider also part-time applicants with exceptional qualifications and independent contractors. We prefer applicants with experience working in low-income communities and neighborhood based citizen groups, housing policy, community […]
Read more Job announcement: Galveston based housing policy analyst – planner – advocate – community outreach specialist
December 12, 2012 0 Comments
Texas Low Income Housing Information Service Job Announcement Policy Analyst – Planner – Advocate – Community Outreach Specialist Qualifications: This full-time position is based in Galveston.We will consider also part-time applicants with exceptional qualifications and an independent contractor. We prefer applicants with experience working in low-income communities and neighborhood based citizen groups, housing policy, community […]
Read more Bo’s news clips: S TX housing shortage caused by the area’s oil and gas boom
December 11, 2012 0 Comments
As the nation prepares to cut budgets in light of the “fiscal cliff,” federal housing programs for poor households receive increased scrutiny from both parties. Public housing and programs for the disabled and homeless, already underfunded, are set for more pruning and paring. For a pdf version of the full stories, plus contextual articles in […]
Read more The Affordable Housing Crisis – NYTimes.com
December 5, 2012 0 Comments
The Affordable Housing Crisis – NYTimes.com. Today’s editorial in the NYT calls for renewed attention to the nation’s rental housing assistance programs. Congress has not treated these housing programs kindly in recent years. Between 2010 and 2012, financing fell by about $2.5 billion, or nearly 6 percent, although some of this was mitigated by one-time […]
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