Office buildings in the South can be notoriously cold in the summer months – or at least that’s what a majority of women would say who jokingly refer to offices in the summer as “women’s winter.” This year as more companies return to the office amid record heatwaves and requests by ERCOT for Texans to reduce electricity usage, we ask why office buildings temperatures can feel out of line with the outside temperatures. We talk to Stefano Schiavon, professor at UC Berkley’s Center for the Built Environment, about his research into gender disparities in thermal comfort in the office and what can ..read more

A group of volunteers that, for nearly two decades, has offered free meals four evenings a week outside Central Library has recently started getting fined for breaking city law. The 2012 law, which limits giving free meals to those in need, has been deeply controversial and had gone largely unenforced for over a decade. Food Not Bombs volunteers say the ordinance goes against their morals and hope it will be deemed unconstitutional in federal courts. Mayor Sylvester Turner says giving free meals outside Central Library is problematic because it leads to those without homes lingering outside, w ..read more

Description: The recent demolition of a $24 million historic home by Astros owner Jim Crane renewed conversations about the preservation of the iconic River Oaks neighborhood. Since its founding in the 1920s, the high-income Houston enclave became a quiet retreat from the rest of the city where the wealthy invested in building beautiful, architecturally significant homes. One by one though, many of these historic mansions are getting demolished and replaced with more modern designs. A handful of owners have renovated and preserved some vintage houses, but at great cost and effort. In this epis ..read more

After much political wrangling and not one, but two special legislative sessions, the Texas legislature has finally agreed on a property tax relief bill. It has something in it for all property owners -- not only homeowners, but also investors and businesses -- and legislators argue that it will trickle down to renters. Austin bureau reporter Jasper Scherer unpacks the bill and what comes next to Marissa Luck and R.A. Schuetz. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices ..read more

Master-planned communities are playing an increasingly important role in housing families priced out of urban cores. How do designers and developers go about planning the future of these massive mini cities to respond to the growing risk of climate change and housing affordability concerns – while also making these communities pleasant places to live? In this episode of Looped In, host Marissa Luck interviewed John Saxon of Howard Hughes, Robert Acuña -Pilgrim of TBG Partners and Nate Cherry of Gensler at the National Association of Real Estate (NAREE) conference in Las Vegas in June 2023. Exp ..read more

Living with roommates has long been a way to save money on housing. In the past decade or so though, a new class of professionally managed roommate housing has emerged called coliving – think of -up version of college dorms. Coliving providers take the typical hassles out of roommate living while giving residents a quick way to meet new people and save on rent. While coliving in the U.S. emerged first in pricey real estate markets in Los Angeles, San Francisco and the Bay Area, coliving providers have been expanding in the South as way to diversify their portfolios and fulfill a demand for mor ..read more

Luby’s, a cafeteria-style restaurant, is so ingrained in Texas culture that the TV series “King of the Hill” has a character named after its signature platter. So when Luby’s board voted to liquidate the brand, many were shocked. But — as Amanda Drane, who formerly covered retail for the Houston Chronicle, tells Rebecca Schuetz — liquidating Luby’s is different than Luby’s disappearing. READ: A Chicago catering entrepreneur bought Luby's. Here's what happens next for the Houston brand. Support the show: https://offers.houstonchronicle.com/?offerid=125&origin=newsroom&ipid=podcast ..read more

A federal program is meant to give low-income families the freedom to choose where they live. But most landlords are not interested in participating, put off by requirements such as lengthy inspection periods and the prospect that the voucher might not meet them where the market is, relegating families with vouchers to the few properties that accept the housing subsidy. The Houston nonprofit NestQuest has set out to change that. READ: Houston nonprofit tackles headaches with rent voucher program Connect with Rebecca Support the show: https://offers.houstonchronicle.com/?offerid=125&origin ..read more

A new paper by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas warns we may be in a housing bubble, driven by fear of missing out (FOMO) in the market as prices surge and mortgage rates rise. But it’s a tricky thing defining a bubble, and even then, bubbles don't necessarily pop — Rebecca Schuetz and Marissa Luck talk to Enrique Martinez-Garcia and Laila Assani, Dallas Fed economists, about how home prices are outstripping wages and rents and what that means for Texans. Read the Dallas Fed paper: Real-Time Market Monitoring Finds Signs of Brewing U.S. Housing Bubble Read the story by Marissa Luck and Kath ..read more

Mayor Sylvester Turner's decision to go against staff recommendations and instead direct millions of city money to a project with ties to his longtime law partner is attracting national scrutiny. City hall reporter Dylan McGuinness and investigative reporter Mike Morris talk about how the news broke and the potential implications. Connect with Rebecca, Dylan and Mike. READ: Turner fires Houston housing director who accused him of 'charade' bid process to benefit developer Turner orders review of deal at center of 'charade' claims by fired housing director In defense of project at center of all ..read more