Claim OwnershipA Little Louder
Subscribed: 12Played: 274
Subscribe
© Texas Housers
Description
A Little Louder is a podcast by Texas Housers, hosted by John Henneberger. We talk about fair housing, community development and community efforts to work toward just cities and inclusive neighborhoods.
77 Episodes
Reverse
In Texas, and across the country disability rights activists have demanded, worked for, and won improved transportation services, the right to choose where to live, and access to housing that suits their needs. But there are still many more strides to take toward more inclusive, accessible communities. In episode 24, Texas Housers talks to disability rights advocate and organizer Stephanie Thomas, with ADAPT of Texas. Thomas discusses how the fight for equitable public transportation in Texas led to a greater struggle for civil rights, community inclusion, and decent, accessible housing.
Learn more about ADAPT at http://adaptoftexas.org/ and disability organizing at http://freeourpeople.net/disabilityorganizing101andbeyond/.
In a supersized episode, we leave 2024 with a bang. Michael Depland speaks with the staff of Texas Housers to reflect on this past year, to talk about what we were most proud of this year, and a brief look forward into the new year.
Thank you to Sidney Beaty, Erin Hahn, Ben Martin, Suzanne Baker, Julia Orduña, and Riley Metcalfe for joining the show. We've got big things planned for 2025, so stay tuned listeners!
Ashley Flores from Child Poverty Action Lab joins the show to talk about the organization's recent 2024 Rental Housing Needs Assessment. With growing populations but without rising wages or homes to match that influx, the data tells a story that highlights an urgent need for affordable housing, especially for Very Low Income households.
Flores tell us about her findings in the report, what all of these compounding demographics indicate in terms of need, and how 10 years down the road will look if we do not act now.
The shortage of affordable housing is one of the largest crises facing low-income households in our state, if not the largest. While our work at Texas Housers has long focused on solving this issue, we are now seeing a renewed interest at our state capitol in addressing this problem from many policymakers, specifically on how land use deregulation can solve this housing crisis for good.
Ben Martin and Sidney Beaty from our research team join the show to tell us what exactly land use deregulation is, in what ways it falls short to help populations most in need, and what we can do to help those who are missed by this kind of policy.
You can read more about Land Use Deregulation in our research team's latest report that can be found on our blog.
On this episode of the show, Michael is joined by Heather Way of the University of Texas School of Law’s Housing Policy Clinic to discuss their latest report.
Best Practices to Prevent Substandard Conditions in Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Properties: An Examination of Replacement Reserves Policies in Texas’ LIHTC Program dives into the issues that aging properties face as their change ownership, rules and accountability loosen, and tenants need far more protection.
To learn more, you can read Professor Way's report on our website.
As we work to serve low-income communities, it's important to recognize that they often are dealing with many issues at once, and they often overlap. Jamie Olson from Feeding Texas joins this episode of A Little Louder to talk about their mission to eradicate hunger across the state, how food and housing insecurity are linked, and how we must endeavor to work across issues to serve low-income people.
Live from the NLIHC’s Disaster Housing Recovery Coalition convening in Washington D.C., our Southeast Regional Director Julia Orduña speaks with members of the Northeast Action Collective out of Houston – Sade Hogue, Cheryl Henderson, Dana Jones, and Rita Robles – during a special panel.
The group touches on how their lived experience grounds their expertise in disaster housing recovery, and they discussed their critical work in Texas ensuring their communities have a seat at the table in disaster planning, response, and recovery.
We again want to thank @nlihc for the invite and hope you enjoy this lively panel!
On this episode, we're joined by Rich Acosta from My City Is My Home/Mi Ciudad Es Mi Casa as we touch on a wide variety of housing issues in San Antonio, including fighting for renters' rights, battling against source of income discrimination for veterans, pushing back against property tax assessments for lower-income homeowners and much more.
Only twice in a decade, Texas reviews its status on fair housing. State officials evaluate how they are affirmatively furthering fair housing, consider the condition of affordable housing across the state, and provide what steps they intend to take to ensure they are proactive in pursuing fair housing practices. All of these findings are collected in an Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing or an A.I.
The 2024 Texas A.I. is now available for comment, and Housers' research director Ben Martin and research analyst Sidney Beaty join the podcast to talk about what's in this document, how Texas must do a better job in engaging affected parties and everyday people for feedback, and how you listeners can express your thoughts as well.
If you'd like to provide comment on the 2024 Texas A.I., you can do so here. If you have questions on this, you can contact Ben or Sidney via email.
We are joined by Melody Herrera and Aggie Jaramillo to speak about their work alongside tenants of the Bexar Creek Apartments in San Antonio. Residents have described issues with poor water, pests, rodents, and air conditioning that have dated back years, and now things have finally reached an inflection point. We speak about public comment, raising visibility, and what is next.
If you'd like to learn more about what's happening at Bexar Creek Apartments, please reach out our Houser in San Antonio Suzanne Baker (suzanne@texashousing.org).
Over the past six months, Texas Housers has spotlighted the stories of uninhabitable conditions and mass evictions at Cabo San Lucas apartments in Houston and the ensuing barriers tenants faced to remain housed.
Our work led us to investigate who actually owns Cabo San Lucas, yet no one seems to know. While our outreach team worked with tenants in Houston, our research team had coincidentally been at work to find information on property owners who attempt to escape accountability by filing as a "single property LLC".
To tie this all together, Housers research analyst Sidney Beaty joins the podcast to talk about how problem properties utilize these loopholes and what we can do to bring these owners to the light.
While most folks in the housing justice community have a strong idea of how tenant's rights and evictions shape our broader world, Andrew Nelson, Associate Professor for Department of Anthropology at University of North Texas offers a unique perspective in how the fight for these essential rights globally affected his advocacy in Denton.
On this episode, we discuss what works across our globe to gain rights, what his team has observed in Denton courts, and what cultural shift will be required to make Texas a tenant-friendly state.
Annually, Texas Housers' team in San Antonio releases its San Antonio District Renter Profiles to deliver a snapshot of how affordable rental housing is distributed across the city, what are the tenant demographics of each city council district, and newly added for this year, how evictions come into play for San Antonio households.
South Texas Regional Director Mia Loseff joins the show to discuss the findings of the renter profiles and how we can improve the lives of low-income tenants not just in SA, but across our state.
High summer temperatures in the Lone Star State are a regular occurrence. However, in recent years, extreme heat has grown more dangerous, with 2023 being the second hottest summer on record.
With this in mind, Texas is not a state that requires rental units to have air conditioning. And even if a tenant is fortunate enough to have AC, a speedy repair or accommodations are also not codified in law.
This was the main reason behind Texas Housers' latest report 'Renters, Air Conditioning, and Extreme Heat in Texas' and its author, Research Director Ben Martin, joined A Little Louder to discuss the current laws for AC in rental units in Texas and what we feel must change.
Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas Coast six years ago this week, back in 2017. And though certain immediate response efforts were swift, the actual recovery has been a long and frustrating process for far too many. Not only are some residents still awaiting funding to make their homes whole again, numerous others have been classified as helped by the Texas General Land Office and have been left behind altogether.
Texas Housers' Southeast Texas Regional Director Julia Orduña joins the show to talk about her work with households recovering from Harvey, how the State wants to take money away from recovery to fund a different program they already had proper funding for, and what we are doing to fix this in 2023.
Did you experience Hurricane Harvey? Tell us your recovery story!
https://bit.ly/HarveySurveyTH
On this episode of A Little Louder, host Michael Depland is joined by Texas Housers' community navigator Taylor Laredo, Litigation Director at Lone Star Legal Aid Dana Karni, and Texas Legal Services Center staff attorney William Ritter to discuss a Houston property that had planned to evict more than 100 households at once, with many not receiving the basic documents such as a notice to vacate in a proper manner or – in some cases – at all.
We explore what we witnessed while visiting the Cabo San Lucas Apartments, what occured at the eviction hearings, and what we must do to prevent these mass evictions in the future.
Communications Director Michael Depland and Research Director Ben Martin team up for one last trip to the Texas Legislature. On this supersized episode, they break down the victories, losses, and in between from what happened at the Capitol this year, and what we have to look for on the horizon.
You can read our full report that details Low-Income Housing at the 2023 Texas Legislature on our blog.
Since the innovation of major highways in the mid-20th century, there has been a legacy of erasure and erosion of Black and Brown neighborhoods. Nearly 70 years later, communities of color are still fighting those battles in areas like Houston, where the efforts of Stop TxDOT I-45 aim to give these neighborhoods agency and choice regarding the future of their homes.
On this episode of A Little Louder, Michael Depland is joined by former (and forever) Houser Sophie Dulberg, Ally Smither from Stop TxDOT I-45, and Kendra London from Our Afrikan Family to talk about the history of fighting this expansion, where things currently stand, and what the affected neighborhoods want for their communities.
You can learn more about Stop TxDOT I-45 here, Air Alliance Houston here, and Our Afrikan Family here.
In this halftime report from the 88th Session of the Texas Legislature, or maybe a little later in the game, Texas Housers' research director Ben Martin joins the show to provide updates on bills regarding eviction preemption, funding for renters, and other tenant protections. Also, Ben and Michael discuss how renters can make themselves seen as equally as homeowners at the State Capitol.
A Little Louder is back to talk about the latest in housing from the 88th Session. Texas Housers has been tracking a number of specific bills at the 2023 Texas Legislature that directly impact those who interface with the eviction process. Jessica Vittorio, managing attorney at the Dallas Eviction Advocacy Center, has a unique perspective as someone who both works in Justice of the Peace courts as well as at the Texas Legislature in order to bring balance and equity for tenants in the eviction process. In this episode, we are talking about proposed legislation that could preempt great strides made locally here in Texas as well as other more positive opportunities to give renters in this state rights which are enjoyed almost everywhere else in our country.
Comments
Top Podcasts
The Best New Comedy Podcast Right Now – June 2024The Best News Podcast Right Now – June 2024The Best New Business Podcast Right Now – June 2024The Best New Sports Podcast Right Now – June 2024The Best New True Crime Podcast Right Now – June 2024The Best New Joe Rogan Experience Podcast Right Now – June 20The Best New Dan Bongino Show Podcast Right Now – June 20The Best New Mark Levin Podcast – June 2024
Download from Google Play
Download from App Store
United States