January
Omicron, vaccine lawsuits cloud coronavirus outlook in 2022
The rate of eligible Harris County residents getting vaccinated for the coronavirus rose steadily throughout 2021, but the emergence of a new variant and a holiday-fueled case spike underway have clouded how the pandemic may play out at the onset of 2022.
The omicron variant of the coronavirus was already starting to spread nationwide by mid-December, prior to the family gatherings that took place during the holidays, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The trend led the CDC to predict between 19,700-30,500 new COVID-19 deaths nationally during the week ending Jan. 29.
February
Midtown parking proposals could reshape Houston hot spot
Houston’s Midtown district could soon be home to a collection of new parking policies with the potential to reshape how people travel to and within the district in the future.
When Midtown resident James Llamas hears from others about what it is like to visit Midtown, the battle for street parking is usually at the forefront of the conversation, he said. From the roof of his high-rise on Bagby Street, Llamas said he has a firsthand view of what takes place on a typical Friday or Saturday night.
Stakeholders use data to address Harris County’s criminal justice system challenges
Local agencies are working together to improve Harris County’s criminal justice system—a system experts said is overwhelmed with a backlog of cases and discriminates against low-income residents and people of color.
Harris County Commissioners Court created the Justice Administration Department in 2019 to identify solutions and facilitate meaningful changes to the system.
March
Key local road projects in the Heights, Montrose make way for bike lanes
When Mariana Raschke moved from New Orleans to Houston around nine years ago, she said the city had a reputation when it came to bike and pedestrian infrastructure.
“Everything you hear about Houston is how it’s a sprawl city where there is no bicycle and pedestrian planning, and it’s terrible for bikers,” she said.
April
Houston ISD releases 5-year strategic plan emphasizing equity, need for teacher raises
Houston ISD Superintendent Millard House II announced the release of the district’s five-year strategic plan Feb. 17, which includes strategies for retaining teachers and addressing "magnet deserts," or parts of the district that lack proximity to HISD magnet schools.
According to a Feb. 17 press release, HISD is implementing six commitments to “improve education outcomes, school experiences and work culture.” The district plans on doing this through building trust with parents, providing equal opportunities across all schools, ensuring great schools and programs, cultivating world-class talents, promoting high-quality learning and teaching and delivering effective services to students, according to the release.
Houston real estate prices soar to historic levels
Single-family home prices across the U.S. have risen faster in the last two years than at any point in time since the country began tracking home prices in 1963, according to data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
That trend can also be seen in the Greater Houston area, where the median price of single-family homes sold has risen by more than 30% since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, according to the Houston Association of Realtors. The median price hit $328,000 in February of this year, up from $245,000 two years ago.
May
Houston studies noise rules as complaints pile up
The Washington Avenue corridor—a roughly 4.5-mile strip connecting downtown Houston to Memorial Park—contains about 70 establishments that sell alcohol, according to Chris Porter, a public information officer with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. Some of these establishments are bars that have put Rice Military neighborhood residents on edge.
In fact, Washington Avenue is considered the No. 1 problem area when it comes to violations of the city’s noise ordinance, according to Sgt. Clayton Graham with the Houston Police Department’s Differential Response Team’s Heights unit.
Coronavirus pandemic, fentanyl exacerbate opioid crisis in Houston
Opioid overdose rates have risen in Houston and across Texas since the pandemic began in 2020, and local entities are working to prevent addiction.
The number of calls for service made to the Houston Fire Department for opioid and heroin incidents grew from around 40-60 per month in early 2019 to 140-160 per month in late 2021 and early 2022, said Dr. Chris Sounders, associate medical director with the HFD.
Statewide, data from the National Center for Health Statistics shows reported opioid overdose deaths are rising. The 12-month total of opioid overdose deaths increased from 1,431 in November 2019 to 2,628 in November 2021, the most recent data available.
June
Looming end of Medicaid protections sounds alarms
When the coronavirus pandemic emerged in March 2020, the U.S. government issued a requirement that states could no longer kick people off Medicaid during the public health emergency. The purpose was to prevent people on Medicaid—a government-run health care policy—from being left without insurance on short notice.
That requirement is still in place two years later, but health care advocates in Texas and Houston said they are worried about what could happen when it ends and millions of people have their safety nets put into jeopardy.
Houston’s fight against crime sees progress under One Safe Houston
Roughly four months after Houston rolled out a now $52 million initiative to reduce crime, a slew of changes have been implemented in the city to bring the program to fruition.
Known as One Safe Houston, the initiative launched in early February and is a direct response to a rise in homicides in Houston over the past two years, culminating with 47 murders in January, a 38% increase from January of the previous year. The initiative aims to reduce crime through many programs and ordinances, including overtime for police officers, a focus on the top 200 most violent offenders, crisis intervention teams, a 10% minimum upfront bail bond payment for certain violent charges and increased security at crime hot spots.
July
Rising rents, costs put strain on affordable housing in Houston
As housing demand soars in Houston, Mary Lawler and her team are doing their best to keep up.
Lawler, CEO of the Houston-based nonprofit affordable housing builder Avenue CDC, said the city’s reputation for affordability is becoming less of a reality for more and more people. In fact, that storyline has been something of a myth for a while, she said.
“I think the city of Houston for a long time was considered an affordable city—seen as being low compared to other cities,” Lawler said. “That’s not the case and has not been the case for a long time.”
August
Houston ISD ups teacher pay in 2022-23 budget, confronts structural deficit
A transformation is underway in Houston ISD at a time when the district is expecting budget deficits in the coming years, including a $31 million deficit projected for fiscal year 2022-23, which started in July.
The first part of a strategic plan meant to transform HISD came to fruition June 9 when district trustees unanimously adopted the FY 2022-23 budget. It included roughly a 11% bump in pay on average for all district teachers. The starting pay for a new teacher increased by more than 8%, from $56,869 to $61,500.
Houston council redistricting reveals shifts in local area
The city of Houston unveiled the new proposed boundaries for its City Council single-member districts July 7. With the proposed plan, Freedmen’s Town could soon find itself in District H, a move that some residents said will hurt the success they have seen in the historic district in recent years.
The redistricting process takes place every 10 years with the release of the decennial U.S. Census Bureau data. Houston has 11 single-member districts and five at-large positions.
September
Severe drought eases in Houston, but devastating effects could linger long term
The month of August brought some much-needed rain to the Houston area after June and July were both exceptionally warm and exceptionally dry.
However, portions of Harris County remained in severe drought as of Aug. 22, according to the Texas Water Development Board, and experts said the effects of the dryness statewide are still being felt, including effects on agriculture, water supply and public health, among other areas.
Montrose Starbucks employees look to unionize, trend could follow
Texas is a right-to-work state with only 4% of employers unionized, but that has not stopped Houston workers from attempting to unionize their workplaces. Between the end of 2018 and June 2022, four companies have been unionized in the city, including two in fiscal year 2021-22, according to the National Labor Relations Board, a group that works for fair labor practices.
Among the Houston businesses looking to become the next to unionize is a Starbucks store in Upper Kirby. After filing a petition to unionize in July, workers who are leading the charge said they anticipate sending out mail ballots in early September that will allow employees to vote on whether to support or oppose forming the union. Ballots are set to be counted Sept. 22.
October
Harris County voters to decide fate of $1.2B bond referendum funding roads, parks, public safety facilities on Nov. 8
Harris County residents will vote on a $1.2 billion bond to fund public safety facilities, road maintenance and parks during the midterm elections Nov. 8.
Voters can approve or reject three separate propositions: $100 million for public safety facilities; $900 million for roads, drainage and multimodal transportation; and $200 million for parks. Historically, the county has proposed road and park bonds every six to eight years, most recently an $848 million bond in 2015.
Harris County misdemeanor bail reform in spotlight as judicial elections loom
When Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg walked onto the stage of Texas Southern University’s auditorium Aug. 25, emphatic boos from several audience members set the scene for a two-hour panel on the county and country’s approach to bail reform.
The back-and-forth of the panel typified the discussion in recent years around Harris County’s bail practices. At the felony level, the county has operated and continues to operate under a cash bail system. But cash bail for misdemeanors was the subject of scrutiny in 2017 after U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal found the county’s policy of using cash bail to hold people in jail while they awaited trial in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
November
As Houston pursues sustainable development, Midtown area charts starting path through reconstruction
Houston is exploring ways to become a more sustainable city when it comes to urban design, and planners in Midtown said they intend to lead the way when it comes to how they design streets, parks and other gathering spaces.
Efforts focused on reducing car reliance, using sustainable construction materials and prioritizing green infrastructure—once considered offbeat and of lesser priority—are starting to become the new standard, with both financial and environmental benefits, said Marlon Marshall, director of engineering and construction with the community group Midtown Houston.
Short-term relief on the horizon for federal student loan borrowers as tuition costs rise
As the cost of higher education continues to rise with more students relying on federal loans to pay for their degrees, short-term relief may be on the way for former college students struggling to get out of debt, while questions remain surrounding a long-term solution.
Adjusted for inflation, the average annual cost of attending a four-year college full time—including tuition, fees, room and board—in the U.S. has risen from $10,231 in 1980 to $28,775 in the 2019-20 school year, a 180% increase, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
December
Advocates hope federal investigation brings fixes to Houston’s illegal dumping woes
The neighborhood in Houston’s Trinity Gardens—found in northeast Houston just outside of Loop 610—looked cleaner than it ever had.
It was late July, several days after the U.S. Department of Justice announced it was opening an investigation into the city of Houston over its illegal dumping practices, namely alleged discrepancies in how quickly the city responds to dumping complaints in white neighborhoods compared to neighborhoods such as Trinity Gardens that are largely home to people of color.
Harris County operating with slimmer budgets for law enforcement, flood control, hospital district after tax rate standoff
Headed into 2023, the new 4-1 Democratic majority on Harris County Commissioners Court will conduct county operations with a tighter budget than initially proposed after the two current Republican commissioners sat out tax rate votes, forcing the county to adopt four no-new-revenue tax rates.
For six consecutive meetings in September and October, Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey and Precinct 4 Commissioner Jack Cagle refused to show. Their absences denied the court the four-member quorum necessary to hold a vote on a set of tax rates for the county’s general fund, the Harris County Flood Control District, the Port of Houston Authority and the hospital district—Harris Health System.
