Houston’s community land trust was once touted as an innovative way to address its housing crisis. But city leaders slashed its funding by half as bureaucracy bogged down the program and enthusiasm dwindled.
housing
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Texas Legislature 2023
Here’s what you need to know about the fight over property tax cuts in the Texas Legislature
Republicans are wrestling over how much of the state’s nearly $33 billion budget surplus to spend on property taxes. Democrats have their own ideas about what to do with the cash.
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Energy
Texas shelters prepare for twin emergencies: arctic cold and an increase in migrants
Cities and nonprofits are using a variety of strategies to keep unhoused people warm. But some organizations warn they’re already at capacity as El Paso sends migrants across the state.
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Politics
Austin voters elect Kirk Watson, who served as mayor two decades ago, to lead the city again
Watson, a former state senator who was Austin’s mayor from 1997 to 2001, pitched himself as a back-to-basics candidate who could ease the city’s growing affordability crisis.
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Demographics
On the margins of downtown San Antonio, a maligned neighborhood mobilizes to save itself
Born of segregation and redlining, the near West Side has long been mostly Latino, mostly low-income. Redevelopment pressures are closing in, and neighbors are working to keep it affordable for some of the city’s poorest residents.
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Economy
Why some Texas cities and counties had to return millions of dollars meant to help renters during the pandemic
For some local relief programs, a lack of staffing, political support and effective community outreach got in the way of spending federal funds to prevent evictions, a new report found. More than $30 million went unspent and had to be returned.
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Economy
How Austin’s housing crisis has shaped the race for a new mayor
The capital city’s mayoral race is something of a test case in how the state’s rising housing costs might influence local races in major cities.
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Politics
Herschel Walker, running for U.S. Senate in Georgia, still gets tax break on $3 million Texas residence
Under Texas law, homeowners can claim a homestead exemption only on their primary residence. The GOP Senate candidate registered to vote in Georgia last year.
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Economy
With rents rising fast, Texas homeless shelters see more families seeking help
Amid rising housing costs and relentless inflation, an increasing number of Texans are struggling to pay their rent and stay in their homes.
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Environment
Mandatory home buyouts are dismantling a flood-prone Houston community
Harris County’s mandatory program to buy homes in six neighborhoods that have found themselves under flood waters over and over is quickly tearing apart the community fabric of Allen Field.