How Houston Can Be a Model for Housing Reform

Despite the large numbers of new homes being built in the region and the city’s famous affordability, Houston struggles to provide enough housing for the lowest-income families, writes Caroline Cheung in an analysis in Kinder Institute’s Urban Edge.

The crisis is spreading to a wider range of households, Cheong notes. “In 2024, the Kinder Institute’s State of Housing report found that a household earning $100,000 a year cannot afford a median-priced home purchase in a majority of Harris County neighborhoods.” And over half of renters spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing.

However, the city also benefits from a strong construction sector, consistently in the top cities for new housing builds, in part due to its lax (sometimes nonexistent) land use and zoning regulations.

Clearly, Houston is not immune to the market pressures, policy shifts and demographic changes that impact affordability across the country. But if there was ever a city that had a clear “advantage” to confronting its housing challenges, it’s ours.

The piece is the first in a series of blogs explaining housing issues in Houston and Harris County, as well as the city’s unique advantages that could allow it to more effectively stem the housing crisis.