How a proposed Chinese investor ban could impact Houston real estate

Houston is one of the most diverse cities in the country with a large population of Chinese residents who have helped to contribute to thriving commercial corridors such as Asiatown near Bellaire and Asiantown near Katy. How would SB 147 -- a proposed law barring citizens and companies from China, …

What it's like to learn the internet thinks you're dead: an HOA duck feud's latest twist

Nearly five months after a Houston Chronicle story about a retired couple's battle with their HOA over feeding the ducks gets picked up by outlets around the globe, the reporter gets a call from the couple's daughter. While Mrs. Rowe and her lawyer said that they had begun feeding the ducks after t…

Houston's biggest eviction prevention effort is ending. What lessons can we learn?

A nationwide, $47 billion effortto prevent evictions during the pandemic is winding down, leaving tenants to cope with higher rents amid inflation. How well did emergency rental assistance, which funneled aid through local and state programs, work? Looped In hosts R.A. Schuetz and Marissa Luck inte…

Sinking homes, toxic soil: Why the ground under your house matters

Some homeowners in Houston are dealing with a host of unexpected environmental issues - from discovering years after purchasing their homes that their land was sinking underneath them to learning there are still cancer risks tied to old school industrial developments nearby. As Houston Chronicle’s …

Buffalo Bayou East will transform East End. Why affordable housing is the first step.

An ambitious $310 million transformation of the eastern side of Buffalo Bayou gets underway this week as Buffalo Bayou Partnership -- which developed the 160-acre Buffalo Bayou Park between Allen Parkway and Memorial Drive -- breaks ground on the first piece of its decade-long plan to transform the…

A behind-the-scenes look at East River, one of Houston's most highly anticipated projects now

Houston’s East End is in the midst of massive change as the neighborhood once dominated by industrial buildings and small bungalows is turning into a hub for mixed-use developments, apartments and adaptive reuse projects. A major catalyst of the East End’s transformation was sparked by East River, …

What Harvey did (and didn’t) teach us about building in the floodplain

Meyerland, built on former rice fields in southwest Houston, was one of Houston’s earliest master-planned communities promising to bring suburban life relatively close to the city. But the neighborhood has been repeatedly ravaged by floods, with some of the worst damage occurring in Hurricane Harve…

What a controversy in Beyonce's old neighborhood tells us about historic districts

In a city with virtually no official zoning, the ability to create a historic district over a particular neighborhood is supposed to be a key tool Houstonians can use to preserve the character of a place. But in the case of one historically Black community in Houston’s Third Ward, called Riverside …

How a nonprofit puts the "choice" back in housing choice vouchers

A federal program is meant to give low-income families the freedom to choose where they live. But most landlords are not interested in participating, put off by requirements such as lengthy inspection periods and the prospect that the voucher might not meet them where the market is, relegating fami…

Why downtown Houston will never be the same

More than two years after lockdowns turned downtown into an apocalyptic landscape of darkened towers and deserted streets, downtown Houston is coming back to life. While it hasn’t completely recovered yet, people are once again crowding into Astro’s games, catching concerts at Jones Hall, cruising …