Posted on · On Friday's Houston Matters: Education updates, concerns about jail populations, whether our current economic crisis will be a recession or a depression, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of the week's news, and lessons from the 1918 flu epidemic.
Posted on · Regional forecaster Bill Gilmer said at the beginning of the year Houston would gain 49,000 jobs this year. Now, because of the oil price crash and COVID-19, the city could lose that many—or more.
Posted on · UH economist Bill Gilmer reveals his bi-annual regional forecast.
Posted on · But at second glance, the story is still the same.
Posted on · If you've lived in Greater Houston for any length of time, you're probably familiar with the idea that there's an east-west divide here. The east side of town is more blue collar. The west side of town is more white collar. Incomes on the east side are lower than on the west side, and so […]
Posted on · Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez says he’s still assessing all the factors and possible fallout involved in potentially ending the county’s cooperation with the controversial 287(g) program. The program allows local law enforcement to transfer inmates with criminal records who are undocumented immigrants over to federal authorities. Gonzalez campaigned on ending the program, and critics […]
Posted on · All this week, NPR and public radio stations nationwide are taking part in this week's A Nation Engaged project which asks, "What can we do to create economic opportunity for more Americans?" On this edition of Houston Matters, we turn the question towards economic opportunity here in Greater Houston. First, Michael Hagerty talks with Bill […]
Posted on · In the first seven months of 2016, residential construction in Greater Houston was down nearly 16 percent compared to the same period last year, while non-residential construction was down 23 percent, according to figures from Dodge Data and Analytics, a New York-based construction data analysis firm. Building overall was down nearly 19 percent. Those numbers […]
Posted on · Almost like a drumbeat, Houstonians know – and love to repeat – the notion that we are the "most diverse city in America." And Dr. Stephen Klineberg, co-founder of the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University, says that's correct. Houston exhibits something called "the entropy index," meaning our city comes closer than any […]
Posted on · A lot can happen in a week. Some of it good. Some of it bad. Some of it downright ugly. When faced with intriguing developments in the week's news, we turn to our rotating panel of "non-experts" to parse The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of it all. This week our panel examines: The […]
Posted on · Later this week (Feb. 12, 2016) Dr. Bill Gilmer, director of the Institute for Regional Forecasting at the University of Houston's Bauer College of Business, will discuss his 2016 economic forecast for West Houston, in a presentation titled, "With Oil Prices Mired, Who Will Come to the Rescue?" He will present this to the Houston […]
Posted on · The problem is well-documented by now. The City of Houston has growing and unfunded pension obligations to meet but is limited by state control and a revenue cap. Back in September, the Houston-based nonprofit Laura and John Arnold Foundation laid out this challenge facing the city in a report entitled “Swamped: How Pension Debt is […]
Posted on · As the Greater Houston regions continues to gauge just what kind of impact dropping oil prices will have on the economy, many in the real estate industry say the market here isn't slowing down or in a downturn. The term that's floating around is "pause." To discuss just what that means and how a so-called […]
Posted on · According to the Urban Land Institute and Price Waterhouse Cooperâs âEmerging Trends in Real Estate 2015â report, Houston is the countryâs number one âmarket to watchâ next year. The ranking is based on factors like investment, development and homebuilding prospects. According to the ULI website, âHouston offers a significant amount of investment opportunityâ for folks […]
Posted on · According to the Urban Land Institute and Price Waterhouse Cooper's "Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2015" report, Houston is the country's number one "market to watch" next year. The ranking is based on factors like investment, development and homebuilding prospects. According to the ULI website, "Houston offers a significant amount of investment opportunity" for folks […]