HOUSTON—The aftermath of Harvey has had a significant impact on Houston's housing market and there is a growing misconception that the city is well positioned to deal with displaced residents due to the former housing glut. However, this fails to take low-income Houstonians into account, according to affordable housing experts.
According to FEMA data, low-income families in Houston were disproportionately affected by Harvey. Households earning less than $25,000 annually made up the largest group of residents likely affected by flooding and households earning between $25,00 and $49,999 ranked as the second largest group. The loss of naturally occurring affordable housing raises new concerns for these residents, as they face displacement and higher housing costs.
In this exclusive, Mary Lawler, executive director of Avenue Community Development Corporation in Houston, recently discussed the city's affordability crisis and the critical steps it must take to protect low-income families on the path to recovery.
Recommended For You
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Lisa Brown
Lisa Brown is an editor for the south and west regions of GlobeSt.com. She has 25-plus years of real estate experience, with a regional PR role at Grubb & Ellis and a national communications position at MMI. Brown also spent 10 years as executive director at NAIOP San Francisco Bay Area chapter, where she led the organization to achieving its first national award honors and recognition on Capitol Hill. She has written extensively on commercial real estate topics and edited numerous pieces on the subject.
