We serve on the core team of the Keep Harris Housed Coalition (KHH), a collaborative effort dedicated to ending the eviction crisis in Houston and Harris County. We co-lead the coalition’s Policy and Tenant Right to Counsel Campaign working group, where we work to:

• Strategize ways to scale legal aid capacity in support of right-to-counsel programs for tenants
• Meet with community leaders and elected officials and their staff to build political support
• Engage new stakeholders with the capacity to contribute to and influence eviction prevention efforts

Keeping Harris County Housed: Understanding the Eviction Crisis

Evictions traumatize children, destabilize families, and diminish the ability of households to secure stable housing in the future, with lasting negative health and socioeconomic impacts. These harms disproportionately affect Black, Latine, and immigrant communities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, governments at all levels expanded tenant protections in unprecedented ways to respond to intertwined public health, housing, and economic crises.

We co-authored Keeping Harris County Housed: An Overview of the Eviction Crisis in Harris County, a report examining eviction trends since 2020. The report highlights effective eviction diversion strategies—particularly right to counsel for tenants facing eviction—as cost-effective approaches to keeping tenants housed while improving fairness and efficiency in eviction court.

Read the report: Keeping Harris County Housed: An Overview of the Eviction Crisis in Harris County

Housing and Health: Advocating Against Anti-Tenant Laws

During the 89th Texas Legislative Session, we co-authored an op-ed in the Houston Chronicle opposing a harmful anti-tenant bill. Written in partnership with the Houston Food Bank, the piece underscored how the proposed legislation would worsen food insecurity and public health by accelerating and expanding evictions across Texas. Thanks to sustained organizing by tenant leaders and advocacy partners, the most damaging provisions of the bill were ultimately blunted.

Read the op-ed: Texas lawmakers want faster evictions. Here’s why it’s about more than housing.