Housing segregation is a problem most Texas communities struggle with. Crippled by a lack of political courage and leadership no city seems to struggle more than Dallas, often with serious consequences. The Dallas Morning News (DMN) ran a front page story Sunday about a dispute between the backers of two proposed Low Income Housing Tax [...]
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Fewer than 500 Texas homes repaired in three years since Hurricane Ike
September 15, 2011
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Official figures from the State of Texas show that fewer than 500 homes have been repaired or rebuilt under the State of Texas Hurricane Ike/Dolly disaster recovery program as of this week, the 3rd anniversary of Hurricane Ike. A minimum of $1.7 billion in available federal funds provided to the state are aside for housing [...]
Read more Protesters say city slow to repair Ike-damaged houses – Houston Chronicle
September 13, 2011
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Bearing photos of homes that still have blue tarps on the roofs, more than 100 protesters held a rally at City Hall on the third anniversary of Hurricane Ike on Tuesday and pleaded with the City Council to accelerate its repair program. “I’m tired of the city telling me to be patient,” said Elvis Malveaux at [...]
Read more Three Years After Ike, Many Still Await Assistance | Public News Service
September 13, 2011
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AUSTIN, Texas – Today marks the third anniversary of Hurricane Ike, and many low-income Texans, particularly in the Houston area, have yet to recover from its devastation. Hundreds of affected residents plan to converge on City Hall today, carrying symbolic blue tarps and photos of unrepaired homes, charging that the city has neglected them while [...]
Read more September 13, 2011 is the three year anniversary of Hurricane Ike
September 12, 2011
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Please take a few moments to consider the plight of the tens of thousands of elderly and disabled Texans who are still waiting for help to repair their homes. Some tell their stories in this video produced a year ago for TxLIHIS by former staffer Melissa Cha. The people in the video are still waiting [...]
Read more Houston experiences largest growth of poor population in American metros
August 5, 2011
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Other central cities that saw populations of the poor soar between 2000 and 2007 included Dallas, Phoenix, Indianapolis, Columbus, San Antonio, Austin, Fort Worth, and El Paso. These are the observations of Rolf Pendall, PhD, Director of the Metropolitan Housing & Communities Policy Center at the Urban Institute, writing in the blog MetroTrends. The biggest single [...]
Read more Texas border building codes: a mostly meaningless and bizarre law
August 3, 2011
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I have been looking into the powers that border counties have to enforce health and safety standards through requiring building permits and inspections of residential homes. In Subchapter F, of Chapter 233 of the Government Code, the Texas Legislature enacted what mist be one of the most meaningless and bazaar construction requirements to be found [...]
Read more Why are mortgage closing costs in Texas the second highest in the US?
July 22, 2011
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A Bankrate.com survey of home mortgage closing costs finds Texas has the second highest closing costs among the states. New York state has the highest. Researchers requested a good faith estimate for a $200,000 loan, assuming a 20 percent down payment and good credit. The result in Texas was origination fees of $1,951 and title and closing [...]
Read more Where Texas border housing and community development issues stand after the legislative session
July 17, 2011
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Earlier this week I spoke to the National Association of Latino Community Asset Builders about developments during the last session of the Texas Legislature that impacted colonias. These are my prepared remarks. The situation faced by those of us who work on affordable housing and community development issues along the Texas Mexico border can be [...]
Read more HUD pointedly directs Galveston to rebuild its public housing
July 15, 2011
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In an unusual joint letter to Galveston Mayor Joe Jaworski, three top HUD leaders told Galveston to move forward to rebuild public housing destroyed by Hurricane Ike or face the loss of federal funding. The July 13, 2011 letter was signed by Mercedes Marquez, HUD Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development, John Trasvina, HUD Assistant Secretary for [...]
Read more TX Tribune story may lead to a misdiagnosis of colonia conditions and health problems
July 10, 2011
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The second of a two-part Texas Tribune story on the colonias that ran today on the Tribune’s website and in the New York Times has me worried. Reporter Emily Ramshaw illuminates the terrible health problems faced by colonia residents. Unfortunately, the story also is likely to leave many in the dark. The story does not make [...]
Read more CNN says, “Impoverished border town grows from shacks into community” – not exactly
July 9, 2011
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Whoever at CNN wrote the headline above does not understand what happened in the Las Lomas colonia. The headline says, “Impoverished border town grows from shacks into community”. The headline should say, “Impoverished border community grows from shacks to a town”. The transformation of Las Lomas took place because it always was a strong community. That community [...]
Read more What really impedes progress in Texas colonias?
July 8, 2011
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A story in today’s Texas Tribune and the Texas edition of the New York Times presents a sad and confused picture of the problems facing impoverished colonia homeowners. Amid a number of self-congratulatory statements from well-meaning government officials here is one that stands out, ”…being in public service, you have to learn the system, and be patient.” [...]
Read more A “new sheriff” takes over Texas disaster recovery
July 6, 2011
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(Photo: Texas General Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, from Texas Tribune) Readers will recall Governor Perry passed responsibility for the Hurricane Ike and Hurricane Dolly disaster recovery programs to Texas General Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson effective July 1. This afternoon I met with Gary Hagood, Deputy Commissioner of GLO and the new man responsible for overseeing [...]
Read more Effect of Elected Official Letters on the 2011 LIHTC Round
July 1, 2011
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Abstract: Letters written by Texas State Representatives and Senators regarding the development of low income housing in the state had the effect of moving development to lower income, higher poverty areas of the state.
Read more Opportunity to tame public corruption lost in veto of TDHCA Sunset bill
June 28, 2011
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When Texas Governor Rick Perry vetoed the TDHCA Sunset Bill a week or so ago one thing that was lost was two years of work by the Texas Sunset Commission to reform a system of allocating Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) that has sent a dozen or so Texans to the federal penitentiary. It [...]
Read more Conference committee strikes anti-NIMBY provisions from TDHCA legislation, continues agency 2 years
June 27, 2011
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The Texas House/Senate Conference Committee on SB 1 has reached agreement to extend the life of the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs two years. The committee also voted to strike provisions in the Sunset Bill requiring disaster planning as well as Texas Sunset Advisory Commission recommendations designed to reduce Fair Housing violations that plague the [...]
Read more Texas colonia self-help centers reauthorized by Texas Legislature
June 27, 2011
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The Texas Legislature acted today to preserve a key program in the state’s efforts to address the substandard living conditions in Texas colonias. The Texas Senate passed SB 2 which allows the Governor authority to transfer administration of the CDBG program for non-entitlement jurisdictions and disaster recovery to an agency other than the current administering [...]
Read more DOJ to Intevene in Texas Developmental Disability Segregation Case
June 23, 2011
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According to a press release by the US Department of Justice, the Justice Department today filed papers seeking to intervene in a case filed on behalf of thousands of Texans with developmental disabilities to enforce their right under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to receive services provided by the state in the most integrated [...]
Read more Report: Texas Efficiency Rent 90% of SSI Payments
June 21, 2011
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“Priced Out,” a new report by the Technical Assistance Collaborative (TAC) and the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) shows the severe housing affordability problems of people with disabilities. According to the report, a person with a disability receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) would have to pay 90% of their monthly income to rent an [...]
Read more Governor Perry switches agencies responsible for disaster recovery funds
June 20, 2011
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Shakeups in the State’s troubled disaster recovery program continue. In the wake of the virtual elimination of the Governor’s designated lead agency for disaster recovery, the Texas Department of Rural Affairs and a veto of the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, the Governor has informed HUD of his intention to change lead disaster [...]
Read more Short term 2 year extension in works for Texas housing department
June 20, 2011
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Well placed Capitol sources tell TxLIHIS that Governor Perry’s staff have indicated they will insist on only a short-term two-year extension of the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs. Last Friday the Governor vetoed the Sunset Bill for the State’s housing department, citing objections to requirements placed in the Sunset Bill at the behest [...]
Read more Analysis: Governor Perry’s veto of Texas Department of Housing
June 19, 2011
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On Friday Governor Perry vetoed the “Sunset Bill” for the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) that would continue the agency in operation for 12 more years. Without passage of the Sunset Bill the state housing agency will wind down operations and cease to exist. The Governor says he vetoed the bill because [...]
Read more Governor Vetos Tenants Rights Bill, Austin Homestead Preservation District Bill
June 17, 2011
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In addition to the TDHCA sunset bill, Perry also vetoed two three other housing related bills: HB 1429 (Deshotel; Carona) – which required landlords to provide leases to tenants and prohibited retaliation for tenant organizing. Perry veto statement excerpt: “The litigation expenses incurred by landlords as a result of this bill could be significant, and [...]
Read more Governor Vetoes TDHCA Sunset Bill
June 17, 2011
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Per the Governor’s Office: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME: Pursuant to Article IV, Section 14, of the Texas Constitution, I, Rick Perry, Governor of Texas, do hereby disapprove of and veto House Bill No. 2608 as passed by the Eighty-Second Texas Legislature, Regular Session, because of the following objections: House Bill 2608 [...]
Read more Housing Tidbits and Round-up
June 17, 2011
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Housing news crossing our desk that didn’t turn into full blog posts this week: TDHCA and TSHAC received $620k through the fifth round of the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling program (a program of the 2008 Housing and Economic Recovery Act). They expect to pass these funds through to local non-profits to reimburse counseling for up [...]
Read more State Rep Riddle says she wants no low-income housing in her district
June 14, 2011
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To appreciate the fair housing problem in Texas just watch this video. Back in February, at a hearing on the budget for the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA), Texas State Representative Debbie Riddle, House District 150, which comprises much of northwest Harris County (51% Anglo. per capita income $25,272, 28% renters), asked Mike [...]
Read more Problems Found with Accessibility Modifications to Smith County Manufactured Home
June 8, 2011
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KLTV reports that a Habitat for Humanity of Smith County is facing criticism over home accessibility modification work done through its “Rehabitat” program. ReHabitat helps low-income seniors and low-income individuals with disabilities with emergency home repairs and modifications. According to the KLTV, a man in Smith County asked Habitat to make his manufactured home scooter-accessible, [...]
Read more Section 8 Waitlists In Texas
June 1, 2011
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Previously here at Texas Houser’s, we noted the Dallas Housing Authority lost 13,000 applications to its Section 8 program. Under the Section 8 program, officially termed the “Housing Choice Voucher Program,” families may apply to receive vouchers to help them pay a percentage or portion of their rent. Dallas reopened its Section 8 waitlist for [...]
Read more TDHCA Sunset bill passes House and Senate
May 30, 2011
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The TDHCA Sunset bill passed the Texas House and Senate last night. The final bill differed in several aspects from the Commission’s recommendations. We’ll recap those differences here at Texas Housers sometime over the next few days. Text of final bill (pdf)
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