Gentrification Hits Houston's Urban Core With New Vigor: How The Issue Can Be Tackled

Houston's urban core is undergoing gentrification at a rapid pace, a trend which corresponds with the experience of the urban core of most major cities in America. However, few people are willing to talk about, much less formulate ways to tackle the issue head on. The issue of gentrification is not new, with earlier examples being traceable to several generations before. At varying points in the history of American cities dating back to the 1800’s, neighborhoods have undergone significant gentrification as new immigrants displaced what were once neighborhoods dominated by a prior group of immigrants. And in some cases, neighborhood revitalization simply led to displacement of older residents within a particular community.

Houston neighborhoods have a long and familiar history with gentrification, which has often been characterized by the flight of one ethnic group from one neighborhood to another. Take for example the Riverside Terrace community at the southern edge of Houston’s Third Ward, which was historically occupied by Jewish families, who later transitioned further west to resettle in the area around Meyerland. The now predominantly Black neighborhood is on the precipice of a significant shift in the racial makeup of its residents, with an increasing number of non-Black residents seen walking their dogs or pushing baby strollers along Brays Bayou and the Columbia Tap Trail in the evening and on weekends .

The main drivers of the present day gentrification, are however, arguably primarily geography and socioeconomic. In several of Houston's urban core neighborhoods, what were once eclectic and counter-cultural residents are being replaced by an invasion of the trendy upwardly-mobile professional class. Take for example Montrose and the Museum District, two neighborhoods which lie just within an earshot of downtown Houston. Both communities for a longtime catered primarily to working class residents, young people, and the creative artistic class. The impact of gentrification over the last 15 years has left these neighborhoods, once characterized by traditional ranch-style homes, duplexes, and small apartment complexes, with a smattering of new mid and high-rise apartments, as well as luxury townhomes, condos, and large magnificent single family homes. The older residents have not only been displaced, but the new residential and commercial developments have left only trace remnants of the neighborhood’s historical character visible.

The same fate that befell Montrose and the Museum District, has similarly overtaken areas such as Upper Kirby, and the historic Fourth and Sixth Wards. These once culturally distinct neighborhoods are hardly reminiscent of their glorious pasts, as newer residents usher in a new vibrance often characterized by an influx of trendy retailers, coffee shops, white linen restaurants and flashy bars. The cat is out of the bag in these areas, and their experiences foretell what lies ahead for some of the historic neighborhoods now on the verge of tipping over namely Second Ward, Third Ward, and Fifth Ward.

While the gentrification process has commenced, it has yet to take full hold, and through carefully considered policies, Houston can attenuate its impact in displacing long-term residents of those endangered communities. The bevy of long-term solutions all point towards permanent affordable housing development, and the Mayor’s Complete Communities initiative is a step in the direction of securing long-term affordability in the areas most at risk of gentrification. However, this strategy also holds the potential of having the countereffect, wherein new infrastructural investments in an area accelerate the pace of gentrification.

Due to its lack of zoning, Houston is able to actively promote housing development in various areas of the city, and encourage partnership with and incentives for the private sector to develop affordable housing units in greater number. The City could further streamline the development process to enable such projects to be more feasible and allowing them to be built faster. Examples of measures that would be beneficial for delivering more affordable units include creating a fast-track permit for projects, reducing parking requirements, and alleviating some of the burdensome development requirements affordable housing developers have to meet that do not apply to market rate developers. In addition to taking these steps, the City has a tremendous opportunity to utilize Harvey Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funding from HUD to accelerate the pace of affordable housing in the aforementioned "at-risk" communities and in other areas of Houston facing tremendous housing price pressures.

Laolu Davies-Yemitan is a real estate broker and developer who specializes in housing, multifamily development, and urban revitalization. He editorializes on issues related to affordable housing, real estate markets, and public policy. LaoluD.blogspot.com; Twitter: @laoludavies

Six Months After Harvey, Recovery Must Focus on Housing, Infrastructure, and Resiliency

Six months after Hurricane Harvey, a long road to recovery lies ahead for the Houston region and where that road leads depends on the intentionality and meticulousness of how immediate decisions are approached. A lot of discussions, following the historic flooding event that damaged approximately 100,000-150,000 housing units in the Houston area, have centered on buying out homes that have flooded repeatedly or that lie in the floodway, in areas adjacent to the major bayous that traverse Houston. The need to take drastic action is clear, however, the limiting factors will be funding, political will, and the ability to maintain a focused long-term strategic approach.

With so many needs having to be met, it’s difficult to predict the amount of funding that will be available from federal coffers for home buyouts, and so it’s incumbent on local leaders to begin exploring alternative options that are within the control of local government. For example, a robust housing program that may for example purchase 20,000 at Houston’s median price of $238,000 would cost $4.5 billion. Furthermore, home buyouts will get you only so far, and what is more important is to begin working on reformations that improve community resiliency.

A few ideas to contemplate that could have significant impact on the trajectory and outcome of the recovery efforts from Harvey include: repurposing of land, improving localized drainage and water detention, and comprehensive community redevelopment. The rebuild efforts must begin with examination of land use in flood prone areas that are contemplated as part of any significant single family home buyout efforts. The voluntary nature of the home buyout program can cause the process to drag on, and can render the effort ineffectual, where it becomes difficult to achieve critical mass.

Once homes have been purchased, a key question to answer is what purpose the vacated land will be put towards and how we improve neighborhood resiliency. A concern some neighborhoods have rightly raised is the destabilizing effect patches of vacant land dispersed throughout communities could have on disrupting the character of the neighborhood. A solution could be to repurpose areas where a sufficient amount of contiguous land has become vacant as greenspace maintained locally, and to have that greenspace serve the dual purpose of serving as localized detention. The dirt that is dug up from building these detention ponds can subsequently be used to shore up the banks of water ways or to fill in some of the low lying properties to raise the land above the 500 year flood plain for new development. If approached in a comprehensive manner and executed properly, any strategic filling of land would be more than offset by the corresponding detention that is created.

This idea conflicts with the city of Houston’s currently proposed revisions to Chapter 19 of its code of ordinances, dealing with development in the floodplain. As currently proposed, the revisions will focus on elevating buildings above a yet-to-be determined base flood elevation and restricting dirt filling sites for any new construction or major reconstruction of buildings in the 500-year FEMA floodplain. The data from Harvey revealed that a lot of the areas that flooded across the region laid outside the FEMA 100-year and 500-year floodplains, meaning revisions are needed to how areas are labeled in order to ensure any regulatory changes will achieve the desired effect.  With that in mind, these proposed revisions at best will take a long time to confer any measurable benefit and at worst would have very little impact on flooding other than for that individual building.

A comprehensive review of the floodplain maps needs to be conducted via a detailed analysis of the best available localized flooding data from the last decade in order to ensure that flood maps accurately reflect the practical experience on ground. This increases the chances of proposed measures achieving the desired impact of reducing flooding damage in the region. Furthermore, immediate impact can be readily achieved by focusing on building up resiliency of existing neighborhoods, by making improvements to the drainage infrastructure and network of bayous to better detain and move water out quickly. The region also needs to focus on getting new housing units built in areas that have suffered little flooding impact from any of the last three major rain storms, and concurrent efforts should be made to fortify resiliency of these areas.

Lastly, Houston must act with the utmost sense of urgency as April marks the beginning of its rainy season. If recent historical trends persist, another major rain event can be expected that will result in significant flooding in some of the currently most vulnerable areas. With so many residents still displaced due to Harvey, one can only imagine how a major flood event would severely further deepen the current state of catastrophe. To avoid the worst possible outcomes, it is in the region’s best interest to work towards quick solutions that improve drainage, enhance resiliency, and rapidly rehouse impacted families, particularly those low-to-moderate income households.


Laolu Davies-Yemitan is a real estate broker and developer who specializes in housing, multifamily development, and urban revitalization. He editorializes on issues related to affordable housing, real estate markets, and public policy. LaoluD.blogspot.com; Twitter: @laoludavies

Amazon's Unequivocal Rejection of Houston is a Wake Up Call!

AND NOT FOR THE REASON MOST ARE CITING...

Following Amazon’s omission of Houston from its announcement of its top 20 cities for location of its second headquarters (“HQ2”), Houston’s failure to make the top-tier has sent leaders in search of answers for what went wrong. A common reason being cited by the experts and business leaders is, a lack of innovation led to Houston’s exclusion from the top 20, and those folks are now raising the warning flag that we must invest in innovation.

Without having the benefit of soliciting feedback from Amazon’s leadership team, I’m going to postulate that a lack of innovation is not the reason Houston did not make the cut. The fact is Houston has been innovating for a long time, and over the last 10 years has been outpacing the nation in innovation in several ways. Two examples of this are horizontal drilling for oil and gas (“fracking”), and the Texas Medical Center Innovation Campus (TMCx), where the world’s top medical researchers are teaming up with healthcare and technology businesses and entrepreneurs. Not to mention the impact the Houston Technology Center and the presence of technology behemoths HP and BMC have had over the last decade, resulting in the technology sector driving a lot of diversification of the region’s economy. Furthermore, development of Generation Park, a booming craft brewery industry, and the Bayou Greenways 2020 project are other prime examples of a region pushing the boundaries of innovation in different sectors.

The missing component in this matrix of amazing things taking place in Houston can be boiled down to the acronym TIE--Transportation, Infrastructure and Education (“TIE”). Houston’s deficiency in these areas is glaring, and one could argue that these are the key factors that will catapult Houston into its rightful place as America’s leading city as we approach the midpoint of the 21^st century. We must begin by taking care of the foundational basics of what makes for great cities.

In Houston’s case, it begins with an improved public transportation system that connects our two international airports, Hobby and Intercontinental, to Downtown. We must also deal with our horizontal infrastructure by fixing our roads and drainage system, so that annual major rainstorm events do not flood so many of our neighbors out of their homes. We must further improve our vertical infrastructure by providing greater workforce housing opportunity, and in the process promote density and affordable housing development in all parts of the city, particularly those areas within proximity or easily accessible to major employment centers. Lastly, we have to make a renewed commitment to bringing about solutions to improve our education system in order to stem the tide of persistently failing schools. The creative workforce is not likely to be attracted to a city with few housing choices available in areas where their children can be zoned to good schools. The inextricable link between schools and housing choice renders significant limitations on the ability to provide housing in so many of Houston’s underdeveloped area, and the most significant way we can rapidly accelerate housing options within the city limits is to improve the quality of schools.

Laolu Davies-Yemitan is a real estate broker and developer who specializes in housing, multifamily development, and urban revitalization. He editorializes on issues related to affordable housing, real estate markets, and public policy. LaoluD.blogspot.com; Twitter: @laoludavies