With renters at risk, Houston must require landlords to disclose flood history [Editorial]
In need of a home for herself and her five children, Krystal Nixon recently rented a house in west Houston, less than 900 feet from Langham Creek. A nurse aide, Nixon was attracted to the safety of the neighborhood after her old place was burglarized twice in one week. But along the quiet streets of…
Read MoreAmazon questions its Seattle future after head tax passes
Amazon was the main target of the campaign for establishing an employee head tax in Seattle. Now the company hints the passage is causing it to question its future in the city. The Seattle City Council unanimously passed the plan Monday which aims to help the city’s affordable housing and homeless crisis. The tax will…
Read MoreA Breakdown Of Dallas First Comprehensive Housing Policy
Dallas first comprehensive housing policy, approved last week, is designed to encourage more affordable housing and disrupt patterns of segregation and gentrification. However, the policy has its critics. Listen Listening…
Read MoreNew report: Dallas’ skyline has most room to grow of any U.S. city
Dallas’ skyline has a lot more room to grow if researchers have it right. When it comes to development sites, downtown Dallas has the greatest development potential, according to a new study. Big D already has one of the busiest downtowns with new apartments and retail developments, office buildings opening and a program to build…
Read MoreHere are some lessons we learned from Hurricane Harvey
Hurricane Harvey shattered many records biggest storm ever to hit Houston, the state of Texas and, by some measures, the United States. The rainfall was so great in some areas that it exceeded what scientists believed the atmosphere was capable of producing. Dozens died. Thousands lost their livelihood. The fourth-largest city in America will never…
Read MoreRents to climb $100 a month if Amazon HQ2 picks Austin, says new study
Yet another study shows the price we could pay if Amazon picks Austin for its second headquarters. A new report from data and analytics provider CoStar Group forecasts the Capital City will see a 10-year rise in apartment rents if Austin lands Amazon??(tm)s so-called HQ2 project. CoStar forecasts that without HQ2, the average apartment rent…
Read MoreHouston among top cities for apartment industry hiring
Houston is among the nation’s top markets for job opportunities in the apartment industry, a new report showed. The Houston area, with 47 percent of apartment jobs as a total of real estate job openings in April, ranked third among metro areas with more than 100 apartment job openings in April, according to National Apartment…
Read MoreAs Dallas moves ahead on housing, clouds linger as HUD scrutinizes sloppy standards from the past
Now that Dallas has a bold new affordable housing policy, it’s worth remembering that as excited as we are about the way things are heading, the city hasn’t yet reckoned with the incrediblemess made under previous administrations. The problems go beyond this month’s damning audit by the inspector general at the U.S. Department of Housing…
Read MoreUS home building slides 3.7 percent in April
WASHINGTON (AP) U.S. builders broke ground on fewer apartment buildings last month, pushing overall home construction down 3.7 percent from March. The Commerce Department said Wednesday that housing starts fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.29 million in April, lowest since December. Apartment construction tumbled 12.6 percent to 374,000. Construction of single-fam
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