One Crisis Away

Texas is still mostly affordable for middle-income homebuyers, but affordability is declining. It’s a long-term trend, but new data shows an even sharper decline in home affordability since the beginning of the year.

At the height of the pandemic, Americans saved a lot of money. Wealthier households turned that increase in savings into increased wealth. But for a lot of lower- and middle-income people, building wealth has been much harder.

Medical debt declined during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it remains a massive issue for millions of Americans, afflicting Black people significantly far more than white people. That inequity is rooted in deep disparities in health and wealth, and Texas' policy choices make those disparities worse.

For a lot of North Texans, the arrival of COVID-19 set off a pandemic of debt. To those without much financial cushion, who worked in jobs with no remote option, the early days of the pandemic often meant racking up credit card bills to keep the family whole. Now, many are working to pay off pandemic debt.

Americans have tacked on a more than $2 trillion in household debt since the pandemic began. Dig into that eye-popping number, and an increasingly unequal America emerges.

Brittany Jones said she’s experienced mold, insect infestations, and a lack of air conditioning during her four years at Hillcrest Apartments in Mesquite. She’s written apartment management, advocated in the media, and even founded a tenant's union at Hillcrest.

This is the first story in a four-part series. Read the second, third and fourth stories. Blocked exit pathways. Leaking roofs. Decaying walls and ceilings. Faulty plumbing. These are just some of the alleged problems at two Vickery Meadow apartment complexes in Northeast Dallas, home to many refugees who have just recently arrived in the U.S.

This is the second story in a four-part series. Read the first, third and fourth stories. Step inside Today’s Discount Food Mart near the corner of Park Lane and Fair Oaks Avenue and you’ll likely be greeted with música norteña, a type of regional Mexican music. The store is stocked with a rainbow of helados (popsicles), tortillas and an array of Mexican spices.

This is the third story in a four-part series. Read the first, second and fourth stories.Amy Del Toro rattles balcony rails, checks the temperature coming out of hot water faucets, scans the walls for water damage and looks for evidence of six-legged residents that have no business being in the apartments she inspects.

This is the fourth story in a four-part series. Read the first, second and third stories. Everywhere, all the time, cockroaches.Rashidah Yusof says that’s just part of life for her family in their Vickery Meadow apartment. No matter how much she cleans, the bugs are relentless.

A new report finds that Texas courts use very different yardsticks to decide who’s poor enough to get a court-appointed lawyer. That patchwork often leaves people without the legal defense in a criminal trial that the Constitution promises.

The Dallas City Council adopted 11 recommendations to address “equity blind spots” in its Comprehensive Housing Policy. Now, city staff members are charged with turning those recommendations into official city policy and practice.