The Fraying Of The Texas Miracle: How The State's Affordability Edge Is Coming Undone

Texas has long marketed itself as the promised land of low taxes, few regulations and cheap housing. For more than two decades, that’s been the undisputed best pitch in America.

Thousands of businesses, millions of people and billions of dollars in investment have flocked to the state, chasing the dream popularized as the Texas Miracle. But one prong of its three-part pitch is increasingly endangered — affordable housing.

Explosive population growth that shows no sign of abating has strained the state’s ability to build fast enough to accommodate newcomers and old-timers alike, pushing prices up beyond the means of ordinary Texans. That, in turn, has jeopardized the state’s reputation as a business and corporate relocation magnet. Companies, citing housing costs as an issue, are already beginning to decide to stay put, seek greener pastures in other states or halt planned expansions in the state altogether.

The world’s ninth-largest economy faces a stark choice: Find ways to build more housing and build it faster, or risk losing its crown to states that are already circling, hawking far less expensive housing in the same low-tax, low-regulatory environment.

Read the full story here.

Sugar Land And Fort Bend County Built A Major Entertainment Hub, And The Party Is Far From Over

Hundreds of thousands of people last year attended comedy shows, concerts and minor league sporting events in the Houston metropolitan area without ever stepping foot in Harris County. That is because the event venues were in Sugar Land.

Between the Smart Financial Centre, Constellation Field and the Crown Festival Park, the latter of which can host 30,000 or more people, the region's entertainment industry is buzzing. Meanwhile, the 10,000-plus-seat Fort Bend EpiCenter is set to open in August, bringing with it more than 14,000 filled hotel rooms the first year it is open and upward of 26,000 additional occupied rooms by its 10th year, according to Fort Bend County Auditor Ed Sturdivant. 

The numbers don’t lie. Building off a task force Sugar Land formed in 2007 to identify opportunities with high potential to increase the city’s standing as a premier entertainment destination, the Fort Bend County region has delivered. And its momentum is building. 

“Look for big things to come in that area in the upcoming years,” Sugar Land Assistant Economic Development Director Danny Cornelius said, referring to the area around Smart Financial Centre, the 6,400-seat performance venue that opened in 2017.“There's going to be night-and-day difference from what it's…

Read the full story here.

Share: