A Little Louder

The research team at Texas Housers has spent the first half of 2026 focused on analyzing the top evictors in Harris and Bexar counties. What they have found over a series of blogs – soon to be compiled into a report – is that through secrecy and a "profit is king" like culture, businesses are not just able to utilize eviction as a business tactic, but are often rewarded for it. Housers&#...

HUD's Continuum of Care program or CoCs are critical support systems for those who are either experiencing or nearing homelessness. These essential lifelines have been in jeopardy in the past few months due to funding reprioritization from the federal government. On this episode of A Little Louder, Hope Rodgers and Billy Streu from Texas Homeless Network join the show to talk through what CoCs...

As we enter 2026, our state leaders will begin laying the tracks for legislative reforms that they will pursue in the next legislative session in early 2027. That means that it is important for us to take stock of the big picture of low-income housing in Texas right now. Texas Housers' research director Ben Martin joins the show to talk about his recent write-up on our website that asks the 7...

Texas Housers has a new leader in Quiana Fisher, and we sit down with her to go into detail about why she chose this work, what she identifies as our biggest challenges in fighting for low-income households, and what is inspiring her to see that we have the power right now to achieve housing justice.

Texas Housers' top researchers Erin Hahn and Sidney Beaty join A Little Louder to talk about their new interactive projects. The San Antonio Renter Profiles track the costs of renting, who lives where, and challenges that tenants in San Antonio face. The Harris County Eviction Mapping Tool investigates and maps where and how evictions happen, who is affected by them and who is most frequently...

We've come to the end of the 89th Session of the Texas Legislature and we're joined by Texas Housers' research director Ben Martin to take a tally on what happened. In this long and winding session, there was much that was discovered, including some new champions for housing! It's time to review the housing-related bills that passed, failed, and those that should have had a chance.

Hurricane Beryl and the May 2024 derecho showed the powerful and long lasting effects that a wide range of weather events can have. The federal government assessed $229 million in unmet need for home repair and personal property loss. Yet the City of Houston released its Action Plan in May, and there are $0 allocated to housing of any kind. On this episode of A Little Louder, we're joined by Maddi...

On this episode, Kathy Green from AARP Texas joins the show to talk about how affordable and low-income housing issues are an underreported problem for older Texans. We discuss how older Texans factor into many critical programs to aid with housing, food, and eliminating poverty and dispel myths about this growing population. We also talk about what AARP Texas has on their legislative agenda, and...

Texas Housers is tracking several housing bills at the 2025 Texas Legislature , some good and some bad. However, one piece of proposed legislation, HB 32 and its companion SB 38, seeks to dramatically expidite and overhaul the eviction process as we know it. To learn more on how these bills would restrict tenants' ability to defend themselves, remain safely housed, or even have a fair day in court...

Houston is a cross-section of so many factors when it comes to low-income housing. It is the fourth-largest city in the nation, is famously home to relaxed zoning laws, and hosts one of the highest eviction case filinings in the entire nation, outpacing several states. With this in mind, Taylor Laredo joins A Little Louder to talk about his deep dive into H-Town's eviction problem – the Harris...

Our first episode of 2025 is a running start right into the 89th Session of the Texas Legislature and there is much ground to cover. On this episode, research director Ben Martin joins the show to talk about Texas Housers' major focuses for housing this session, what bills are grabbing our attention right away, and how you can get involved as well. For more information on what Texas Housers is tra...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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 a...

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 l...

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 coincidentall...

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...

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 dis...

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...

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 behin...