Texas

Laws designed to ease regulations that limit housing diversity and supply are passing in states around the country. Affordable housing advocates in four states talked with us about the coalitions that have come together, and how they might fit within the larger advocacy framework.

In Houston, where a Housing First strategy has dramatically decreased the number of people without a place to stay, artists and unhoused residents teamed up to create public art works.

Charles Carrier is accused of orchestrating a yearslong Ponzi scheme, bilking tens of millions of dollars from both wealthy investors and older people with modest incomes. Despite signs of trouble, HomeVestors didn’t intervene.

In the face of teacher shortages and out-of-reach housing prices, efforts to provide educators with affordable housing options are taking shape across the U.S. Shelterforce looks at some of the emerging models and how they’re working so far.

Since 2022, all new units within the Houston Land Bank must be built to meet its accessibility standards. The organization says it’s able to do so while turning a profit.

Dallas’s bonds aren’t usually used for housing. A new coalition of advocates changed that.

CEER recruits residents to gauge their communities’ climate needs and to act as climate educators. Shelterforce asked Rita Robles and Carmen Cavezza about the program, how it works, and future plans.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill that overrode dozens of local tenant protection laws won there in recent years. How are housing organizers in Florida fighting back? And what can other organizers do if they live in a state that is hostile to tenant protections?

Tenants aren’t just organizing in places like California and New York—hear about tenant organizing in small and mid-sized cities from Maine, Maryland, Texas and Kentucky.

Activists have been fighting for decades to expand accessible housing for disabled residents. They’ve made progress, but say that current regulations and enforcement don’t go far enough.

HomeVestors of America, the self-proclaimed “largest homebuyer in the U.S.,” trains its nearly 1,150 franchisees to zero in on homeowners’ desperation.

The Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule was intended to force communities to take action to address housing segregation and discrimination. How has the rule evolved throughout the years, and will a proposed new rule finally put some teeth into the legal concept?