I’m not given to promoting commercial products on this blog, but I’m going to make an exception for the new on-line mapping tool by Esri called Community Analyst. I am excited about this planning and policy tool. If you want to see what it can do, watch this video. Here is how Esri describes their [...]
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Excuse the inconvenience, we are merging our blog and website
June 12, 2011
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Please excuse the the empty pages and strange links on our blog site texashousiners.net. We are merging our several web sites with our blog. The process will (hopefully) be complete in a few weeks and will make information and news about affordable housing and community development in Texas easier to find. We welcome your suggestions [...]
Read more Learn how to resolve a dispute with your landlord
June 11, 2011
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www.texastenant.org The Texas Tenant Advisor developed by Texas Low Income Housing Information Service and Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid attorney Robert Doggett is designed to help tenants know their rights under Texas law so they can resolve disputes with their landlords. The site includes helpful resources such as videos, forms you can use to resolve [...]
Read more Find subsidized housing with our custom search tool – Texas Housing Counselor
June 11, 2011
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The Texas Housing Counselor is a website of the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service. It is an interactive search tool which automatically estimates the your rent for subsidized housing programs in Texas and is a resource for exploring housing options in the city you choose. It is important to remember that a property or [...]
Read more Video of Houston Disaster Recovery Town Hall
June 2, 2011
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Last week we highlighted a town hall on Disaster Single Family Home Repair in Houston, hosted by the Texas Organizing Project. Mayor Annise Parker spoke at that event, as did Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. We’ve put video of their comments up at Youtube so you can watch them from the comforts of your own chair: [...]
Read more Hurricane Disaster Spending–an opportunity to repair homes *and* create jobs in affected communities
May 27, 2011
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Texas Low Income Housing Information Service is working with residents in Galveston, Houston and the Valley to make sure that under-employed and unemployed Texans get as much work as possible from the Hurricane Recovery dollars. Section 3 says that when HUD dollars are spent on housing or infrastructure projects and low-income people in the affected [...]
Read moreChronicle on Houston Disaster Recovery Repair
May 23, 2011
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Saturday’s Houston Chronicle ran a short story on the status of the single-family housing repair program funded with Hurricane Ike disaster relief. The full story quotes TxLIHIS Co-Director John Henneberger: Houston on track to repair 44 Ike-damaged homes Some owners skeptical the delay is finally over City housing officials say they’re on track to have [...]
Read moreJohn Henneberger Testimony at Urban Affairs on TDHCA Sunset
April 11, 2011
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TxLIHIS co-director John Henneberger testified last week at the Texas House Urban Affairs Hearing on TDHCA’s Sunset process. His testimony, as well as the introduction of the TDHCA Sunset Bill by Rep. Harper Brown, is available below via Youtube. (John Henneberger’s testimony starts at 7.24 of the clip, following Rep. Harper Brown’s statements.)
Read moreIncreasing Minimum Entry Door Width in Manufactured Housing
April 11, 2011
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TxLIHIS recently submitted Comments to the Manufactured Housing Consensus Committee (MHCC), a federal advisory committee to HUD on the regulation of manufactured housing, regarding its review of the minimum exterior door and interior hallway widths allowed in the building code for such homes. These comments follow: ************************ April 8, 2011 Mark J. Mazz, AIA General [...]
Read moreManufactured homes, mobile homes, and trailers, oh my!
March 14, 2011
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While many readers were tracking the exciting housing bills popping in the mad-end-of-bill-filing rush in the Texas Legislature last week, I was in DC attending the Manufactured Housing Consensus Committee (MHCC), a federal advisory committee to HUD on the regulation of manufactured housing. I’ll keep most of the exciting details of parliamentary intrigue and interpersonal [...]
Read moreJohn Henneberger Testimony at Senate Finance on TDHCA Budget
March 9, 2011
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TxLIHIS co-director John Henneberger testified last week at the Senate Finance Hearing on TDHCA’s budget and Disaster Recovery funding in Texas. His testimony is available below via Youtube.
Read moreObserver Article on Disaster Recovery
February 18, 2011
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“We had an expensive and painful learning process under Rita, and we didn’t apply those lessons to Ike and Dolly,” says Henneberger. The Texas Observer is running a cover story which outlines the frustrating state of affairs of Disaster Recovery in Texas. The article, which quotes Texas Low Income Housing Co-Director John Henneberger, can [...]
Read moreHouston TOP Bus Tour
December 28, 2010
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This blog post is by Elizabeth Nowrouz. In late November, Melissa Cha and I traveled to Houston to gain a little perspective into the issues of disaster relief and home repair as they impact the city’s low-income residents. We met with Jayne Junkin of the Texas Organizing Project (TOP), who graciously offered to introduce us [...]
Read moreRecap of Sunset Commission Recommendations for TDHCA
December 23, 2010
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Last week the Texas sunset commission adopted its final recommendations regarding the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA). Burying its lead, the final recommendation adopted was to continue the department for another 12 years, recognizing the improvements since the last full sunset review in 2000. A detailed recap of the full recommendations is [...]
Read moreMeet Elizabeth, the Texas Tenant Advisor, and the Texas Housing Counselor
December 20, 2010
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This blog post is by Elizabeth Nowrouz. Hello all, allow me to introduce myself. I’m Elizabeth Nowrouz, and I’m one of the Americorps members serving at Texas Low Income Housing Information Service. Relatively new to this position as well as the state of Texas (I hail from Virginia), I’m learning a great deal each day [...]
Read moreJoin us for the 2010 Texas (Fair) Housing Awards
December 2, 2010
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“Let us be dissatisfied until the tragic walls that separate the outer city of wealth and comfort from the inner city of poverty and despair shall be crushed by the battering rams of the forces of justice…Let us be dissatisfied until slums are cast into the junk heaps of history, and every family will live [...]
Read moreSunset Followup
November 18, 2010
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The Sunset Commission met on Tuesday of this week to take public comment on the Sunset Staff Report on TDHCA. The public testimony generally reflected the written comments submitted prior to the hearing. TxLIHIS’s comments, many submitted in concert with ten other stakeholders in TDHCA’s activities, were previously posted here. The video of the TDHCA [...]
Read moreFirst homes complete, Texas Grow Home Project website launched
November 27, 2009
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The first two Texas Grow Homes in Port Arthur have been completed by Houston-based CDC Covenant Neighborhoods and the new homeowners have moved in, just in time for Thanksgiving. Thanks to the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs and all the project partners for making this possible. We have launched a web site that [...]
Read moreWhat the State of Texas must do to fix the Hurricane rebuilding plan (and what we plan to do to make sure it does)
November 23, 2009
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People have asked me what we want from the Texas CDBG Disaster Rebuilding Plan that we have criticized and that HUD has asked the Governor to revise. The complete answer lies in the extensive comments that we have submitted on repeated occasions to the State of Texas and in our complaints to HUD. Here is [...]
Read more“To feel useful in this old world”
October 23, 2009
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Yesterday’s blog post, actually ghostwritten by Kristin Carlisle, stirred the recollections of more than one reader regarding the portrayal by Fess Parker of Davy Crockett in the 1960′s Walt Disney television series that bore the name of the famous illegal immigrant to Texas. I too was a Fess Parker fan and was saddened as a [...]
Read moreNew TxLIHIS initiative seeks improvements in housing tax credit program
September 21, 2009
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We are pleased to announce a major new initiative at TxLIHIS. One of the largest affordable housing programs in Texas is the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program (LIHTC). In the past year, this program has grown much larger, as much of the housing-related funding from the federal stimulus bill flows through LIHTC-related programs. These [...]
Read more TexasHousers on Twitter
June 3, 2009
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For those given to chronically wasting time or suffering from insane levels of boredom, follow the goings-on of Texas Housers via Twitter. No promises that I’m going to keep this up for a long time.
Read moreMy excuse for a irregular blogging – bill filing deadline
March 18, 2009
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Regular readers of this blog have doubtless noticed the slowdown in postings over the past week. This is been due to the frantic pace of action that accompanies bill filing deadline at the Texas Legislature. The Texas Legislature convenes only once every two years and then for a period that lasts only from mid-January to [...]
Read moreFebruary 3 meeting to discuss Texas housing legislation
January 27, 2009
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The 81st session of the Texas Legislature has begun in the midst of an escalating housing crisis in Texas. This crisis that has condemned tens of thousands of Texans to living under unimaginable circumstances: where foreclosure or eviction looms as a daily threat, and where families must make the choice between food and rent. Substandard, [...]
Read moreThanks for supporting our 20th anniversary
October 2, 2008
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On the behalf of the board and staff of the Texas Low Income Housing Information we want to thank the more than 200 people who turned out for your 20th anniversary celebration last night. We looked back at the accomplishments that have been made in affordable, low-income housing in Texas in the past twenty years. [...]
Read moreCome to our 20th anniversary party October 1
September 4, 2008
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You are invited to join the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service and the Johnson family in a celebration of President Johnson’s legacies. ___ An October Party at Fiesta Gardens ___ A Fundraiser for Texas Low Income Housing Information Service Mighty fine food and drink by Threadgill’s Great music by Grupo Fantasma Coupled with gripping [...]
Read moreVISTAs make good things happen in housing
July 17, 2008
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We have a new VISTA volunteer at the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service and I am once again reminded how VISTAs make good things happen for the poor, especially in housing. Ryan is a summer VISTA who was assigned to us through a VISTA program operated by United Cerebral Palsy of Texas. His job [...]
Read moreFarewell Kristin
June 4, 2008
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After four years of dedicated work for the cause of promoting housing for the poor, Kristin Carlisle, development director and Housing Texas coordinator, is leaving the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service (TxLIHIS). The cause of housing has been advanced by Kristin’s work over these four years. Kristin is idealistic, committed to social change and unbelievably focused and hard working. Kristin [...]
Read moreWe have not learned the lessons of Katrina
May 31, 2008
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In the wake of Hurricane Katrina we wondered what we could do to help. We settled on four things: 1) advocate on the behalf of the housing needs of the Katrina evacuees; 2) work with the State of Texas to try to come up with a good plan to help the victims of hurricane Rita [...]
Read more32 years in low income housing in Texas
May 31, 2008
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I started my involvement with low income housing and community development in 1975. As a junior at the University of Texas at Austin majoring in history I signed up for a course and oral history and was assigned to the Clarksville neighborhood, an historic free black settlement in central Austin. When I showed up at [...]
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