A Little Louder

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 va...

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 Lou...

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 a...

This supersized episode of A Little Louder features two special guests to talk about bills affecting low-income households at the 88th session of the Texas Legislature. Eric Samuels, President and CEO of Texas Homeless Network and Tanya Lavelle, Policy Specialist from Disability Rights Texas each have worked in the Texas Legislature (and beside Texas Housers) for many years and both joined the sho...

It's a new year and a new session, the 88th to be exact, of the Texas Legislature. Communications Manager Michael Depland sits down with Research Director Ben Martin to break down the housing bills with the biggest potential impacts this session including issues regarding the construction of affordable housing, fighting for tenants' rights, and much more including how you can get involved and keep...

The Department of Treasury launched its Emergency Rental Assistance Program in March of 2021 with Texas receiving $2.4 billion dollars to aid with families and individuals struggling to stay housed during the pandemic. Now nearly 18 months later, Texas Housers has observed the manner in which the State of Texas and 37 localities within have distributed this essential rental assistance and closely...

This week, Texas Housers communications manager Michael Depland speaks with two members of Texas Tenants For Change – Myra and Beeper. The two Houser Academy fellows talk about what went into forming a group, their common experiences as tenants despite living hundreds of miles away, and what they hope to accomplish with their foray into statewide advocacy, including their petition for tenants' rig...

As the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) ramps up its process to update the rules and scoring criteria by which proposed Tax Credit developments are evaluated – one of the largest creators of affordable housing in the state of Texas – via the Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP), Texas Housers has released a new report of recommendations to ensure that the best standards and mos...

In A Little Louder Buzz Session # 5, Texas Housers’ community equity analyst in San Antonio Uel Trejo was joined by communications manager Michael Depland to discuss her work in shaping this most recent SAPMC, how residents feel Code Enforcement abuses its power and does not provide residents proper information, and how everyone learn more about these sorts of violations. You can read Uel’s recent...

On this episode of A Little Louder, Texas Housers' Southeast Texas Regional Director Julia Orduña joins fellow Houser and Communications Manager Michael Depland to explore more than just a simple look back at Hurricane Harvey, but the work that survivors have put in to seize their own power and make their homes whole again.  Several members of the Harvey Forgotten Survivors Caucus sat with Ju...

John welcomes Ann Lott from Inclusive Communities Project in Dallas as well as our advocacy director David Wheaton to talk about a troubling trend starting in Denton regarding Homeowners Associations. The local HOA for Providence Village determined last month that housing choice vouchers will no longer be accepted in their community and landlords who do will be fined for doing so. The bulk of reci...

On this episode, John welcomes Texas Housers educator Riley Metcalfe to the show to talk about the Houser Academy, our tenant-focused initiative centered on gathering budding advocates from around the state to consolidate people power. We explore the origins of the Houser Academy, what this second year of the project is seeking to accomplish, and how Texas Housers wants newcomers to get involved.

John is joined by Texas Housers' Advocacy Director David Wheaton on this episode to discuss the recent final determination from the Department of Housing and Urban Development that the Texas General Land Office discriminated against Black and Hispanic Texans in their distribution of CDBG-MIT funds to protect their neighborhoods from future storms and disasters. John and David break down the creati...

For this Buzz Session episode, John is joined by Texas Housers' Tori Tavormina and Erin Hahn who both are observing eviction court in Houston and San Antonio respectively. What they are seeing there is that while tenant protections exist for those who are receiving rent relief, they are not necessarily observed. We dive deep into what's happening and what needs to come next for eviction court.

On this episode, John explores issues we have heard personally, as well as in the media, regarding the Texas Rent Relief program. While it has been stellar in distributing funds quickly to those who need it, how can they improve accuracy and targeting? And how can we ensure that those seeking help aren't lost in the shuffle and displaced from their homes? We're joined by Texas Housers eviction pre...

Texas Housers, alongside community members and Texas Organizing Project, have strongly declared together that San Antonio needs a Tenant Bill of Rights. We outlined on our blog what the items in a Tenant Bill of Rights in San Antonio would be, but what does that look like in detail? On this episode of A Little Louder, John is joined by Texas Housers' advocacy director David Wheaton and Texas Organ...

In A Little Louder Buzz Session #3 , Texas Housers’ Senior Researcher Ben Martin and Research Analyst Erin Hahn discuss the confusion caused by the Treasury Department. They make the case for why it is important to clarify the federal policies on clawing back Emergency Rent Assistance. The US Treasury Department oversees state and local government expenditures of federal Emergency Rent Assistance...

In our latest Buzz Session from A Little Louder, host John Henneberger sits with Texas Housers' Southeast Texas regional director Julia Orduña, communications manager Michael Depland, and research analyst Erin Hahn to talk about what are the takeaways we've learned as advocates and those fighting for housing justice under this unique crisis. What are the temporary changes that need to become perma...

On this episode, John is joined by Shoshana Krieger of BASTA Austin who stops by to talk about the fights for tenants' rights happening in both Austin City Council and alongside fellow organizers on the ground. Krieger spoke with us about demanding more protections for tenants in Austin and the hurdles BASTA faces individually as renters as well as a progressive organization in a tenant-hostile st...

A Little Louder listeners! We have a very special episode today in a new series we call 'Buzz Sessions' . This is our way of quickly reacting to news and topics happening right now. The first 'Buzz Session' we hosted features John Henneberger and Texas Housers senior researcher Ben Martin talking about the urgency of quickly rising eviction numbers in our state with several protections going away,...

A Little Louder is launching a new miniseries on substandard housing in Texas and this episode kicks off the special project with Professor Heather K. Way talking about her in-depth report regarding housing in the Sunnyside area of Houston . In this 2017 presentation to residents and community leaders of Sunnyside, Professor Way talks about the months-long study about the dangerous apartment epide...

On this episode of A Little Louder, John is joined by Heather Way, co-director of the Entrepreneurship and Community Development Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law, to talk about the report “ Ousted: The City of San Antonio’s Displacement of Residents through Code Enforcement Actions .” This new report from Way and the ECDC details the outsized demolitions happening in San Antonio – s...

On this episode of A Little Louder , John sits down with Texas Housers staff attorney Elizabeth Roehm to discuss updates to the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program in our state. While some things remain the same with the Texas Department of Housing & Community Affairs, 2022 is shaping up to be a time we can effect real change. Elizabeth and John discuss the strategies necessary to create tru...