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Critical Consensus: Fair Housing Challenges in Harris County Opinions in Harris County are as diverse as the local culture, but there are a couple of things that truly seem to unite folks. While there’s definitely consensus about Shipley’s superiority over Krispy Kreme and Centerpoint Energy’s inferiority as an emergency resource provider, people are also on the same page about rising housing costs. Yes, the Houston metro area is comparatively cheaper than the United States’ other largest cities like New York or Los Angeles, but there is still a critical lack of affordable, safe, fair housing options. In preparing plans that’ll guide the area’s housing policy and development for the next five years, Harris County’s Department of Housing and Community Development found that 87% of survey respondents were anxious about losing their housing and being displaced due to rent increases. This valid and familiar anxiety is not dramatic - it reflects people’s experiences navigating an expensive, complicated and inequitable housing system. It feels harder than ever for households to stay afloat right now, and Harris County’s own report about housing equity confirms and conveys how people really haven’t been able to catch a break. Between wage stagnation, rampant inflation and a 22% increase in average rent (totaling $1,609 as of January 2024) over the past five years, many people are barely making ends meet. One in five people in Harris County are burdened by the cost of their rent, meaning that they spend over a third of their monthly income on housing. Unfortunately and paradoxically, Black, Latino and Native American households are most likely to be cost-burdened while also being least likely to be approved for assistance that alleviates this burden. Even with countless side hustles and extra shifts, people are struggling to close major financial gaps. Considering that eviction cases in Harris County more than doubled, skyrocketing from 35,000 in 2021 to 81,513 in 2023, it is clear that our communities and families are reaching a breaking point. We as stakeholders - community members, builders, local administrators - are watching Harris County’s affordable housing problem snowball into a full-blow housing crisis. We also have the power to stop it. In keeping with our other recent housing policy work, we at Pure Justice submitted formal comments regarding Harris County’s drafted five-year plan documents. Since county officials must review and consider all comments, we took the opportunity to call attention to prescient issues and make recommendations. We suggested increased tenant protections and support resources for those facing eviction to minimize household disruptions for families. We reminded Harris County about ongoing de facto housing discrimination that those with arrest records face and urged administrators to measurably affirm their fair housing rights in accordance with HUD’s new guidance. We addressed the need for greater diversity within actual public housing developments; we desperately need more floorplans for large families, seniors, and disabled folks. Our comment didn’t exclusively feature call-outs, though. We encouraged Harris County to use different sorts of policy tools to incentivize private developers to designate and reserve space for systems-impacted community members. By allowing ourselves to re-imagine safety for everyone, we can envision affordable housing solutions that can work for anyone. Even though our personal definitions of affordable may differ, I think we can all agree that now’s the time for local officials to meaningfully ensure fair housing opportunities. Referenced Documents: Harris County, TX’s PY2024-2028 Consolidated Plan Harris County, TX’s PY2024-2028 Fair Housing Assessment Link to Pure Justice’s Comments on Harris County’s Drafts of PY 2024-2028 Consolidated Action Plan, PY 2024-2028 Fair Housing Assessment & PY 2024 Annual Action Plan: 2024 Pure Justice Harris County Public Housing Comment Written By: Salena Braye-Bulls
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 Here in Texas, felons are not permitted to vote until they have completed their entire sentence which is a nebulous and subjective legal term that is unclear and up for debate. In an ideal world, of course, every legal standard would be both clear, and just, but of course we are living in the United States in the year 2024.
The legal system, as well as policing and prisons, are systems heavily influenced by local, statewide, and federal politics: the policies we enact arguably most heavily impact those whose days are completely under the charge of the state: people in prison or jail, people who are on probation, and people on parole. Taking away the ability of felons to vote on the systems that impact them the most not only prevents them from impacting their own futures, but also holds our entire country back from progress. Florida tried to take a step forward when, “in November 2018, nearly 65 percent of Florida voters approved Amendment 4, a constitutional amendment that automatically restored voting rights to most Floridians with past convictions who had completed the terms of their sentence,” – but while Florida is moving forward to allow felons to vote, this right does not follow from other states. Much like the laws currently governing marijuana (which are state-based, but remain federally in limbo), this right in Florida only remains if the state where the person was convicted would also allow that person to vote in that state. Having our state and local decisions decided by, and impacted by, the specific location of a conviction muddies the waters of who can vote, and where. Here in Texas, we passed a law making it (still) harder to vote in 2021 – which caused voters of color to have a 30% higher rate of having their ballot (or voter application) rejected. This is absurd - justice should apply to all of us equally, and we cannot allow for it to impact some of us more egregiously than others. And if this doesn’t seem unfair yet, “since 1990, nearly one in five new prisoners added to the nation’s prisons was in Texas…” and let’s also consider that “one out of every four adult black men in Texas is under some form of criminal justice supervision.” Local policing undoubtedly has a huge impact on who arrives at the doors of a prison cell – and one way to attempt to course-correct who does that policing, and how a person is treated by the justice system, is of course to allow those who are already impacted by the justice system are still allowed a say in the direction of our entire nation. Written By: Beck Havens Instagram - @bee.eee.see.kay Twitter - @uhhhhbeck  What it is and what we can and must do about it.
You’ve probably heard of the school-to-prison-pipeline (STPP), but I think it’s a subject that needs more airtime. Like a song that keeps playing over and over on the radio until you begin to sing it, we must have frequent and continuous conversations about STPP to put an end to it. What is STPP? It is a concept that encompasses many different policies and procedures. It’s not a specific policy or procedure, and every district goes about it in a different way. For instance, the use of school resource officers who are given carte blanch in enforcing school codes. It’s teachers who can determine which students will get expelled and which ones will be given second chances. And, if you didn’t already know, it is deeply rooted in bias, prejudice, and racism. It removes mostly brown and black children from the classroom preventing them from obtaining the education they need to compete in a global workforce, and it is a mainstay in the school system. What can we do about it? First, we must teach our boys that it’s ok to be smart. Many times a smart black or brown boy is made to feel ashamed or is taunted by others. Our male children are more than the next Lebron James, who by the way is quite smart. They can be both great on the court and great in the classroom, but they must hear it from us, the adults, that it’s ok. Second, our girls must be taught that they are beautiful just the way they are. Too much focus is on appearance. Simone Biles had to clap back at those talking about her hair at the Olympics. Enough already. Young girls should be applauded for their smarts as well as their looks. Lastly, we, the adults in the room, must continue to support them, create safe environments where they can thrive, and keep working on changing the system. It’s a long, hard game that we cannot afford to lose. Written By: Yvette Scheiber PhD |
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August 2024
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About UsPure Justice uses community organizing, and civic and electoral engagement as methods help reform institutions and systems that perpetuate social and criminal injustices, and to improve the lives of low-income and working-class families
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