Browsing by Author "Villegas, Carlos"

Now showing 1 - 9 of 9
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    Collaborations and Overlapping Services in Harris County Law Enforcement
    (Kinder Institute for Urban Research, 2018) Shelton, Kyle; Fulton, William; Villegas, Carlos; Krause, Matthew; Zhang, Mingming; Lightbourne, Jesseca
    In Harris County, there are more than 60 law enforcement agencies. In general, these agencies provide a high level of service to area residents. However, there are possible efficiencies and improvements to be found. The funding that supports these entities mostly comes from local general funds and, on average, accounts for about 30 percent of local government budgets. The sheer number of agencies creates multiple overlapping services and duplicative costs. While several existing collaborations between local agencies have been successful, this more in-depth look at local law enforcement operations lays out possible options for improving service and cutting costs.
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    Funding Primer: Harvey Relief and Recovery
    (Kinder Institute for Urban Research, 2017) Villegas, Carlos; Wowk, Kateryna (Katya); Shelton, Kyle; Lightbourne, Jesseca; Patterson, Grant
    This primer is intended to inform decision makers and the public about the complicated process of financing disaster response. This work shows how federal, state and local funding have provided and will provide relief to the areas and people affected by Hurricane Harvey. The vulnerable populations section discusses some of the challenges certain populations face in trying to access relief and recovery resources. This primer does not address some of the longstanding challenges in using disaster relief funding wisely, which requires the close coordination of each unit of government. These challenges – time constraints for spending recovery dollars, difficulties in gaining support to mitigate impacts of future disasters, understanding multiple layers of regulations, and the tension between balancing long-term hazard mitigation investments with short-term economic development goals – will be addressed in subsequent work.
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    Governing a Growing Region: Addressing Challenges of Service Provision and Development in Houston
    (Kinder Institute for Urban Research, 2018) Shelton, Kyle; Fulton, William; Villegas, Carlos; Krause, Matthew
    Most MUDs are on firm financial footing and effectively help communities function. But, zooming out from individual communities and taking a regional view, major issues with the regional governance system appear on the horizon. This report analyzes how government entities in the Greater Houston region are struggling to provide urban-level services to all residents, especially those in unincorporated, non-central suburban areas known as municipal utility districts. The current system of providing services is uneven. The purpose of this report is to highlight how cities, counties and MUDs relate to one another and provide services, in order to identify issues associated with the current governance system and to provide possible alternatives where appropriate.
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    Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund Needs Assessment: Phase One
    (Kinder Institute for Urban Research, 2017) Wu, Jie; Zhang, Mingming; Villegas, Carlos; Patterson, Grant; Shelton, Kyle; Love, Samantha; Lightbourne, Jesseca; Wowk, Kateryna (Katya)
    This document represents the first phase of the Kinder Institute for Urban Research’s needs assessment work on behalf of the Greater Houston Community Foundation and the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund. This fund was jointly created by Harris County Judge Ed Emmett and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner to accept private donations to aid in hurricane relief and recovery. The report includes an analysis of 211, 311, and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Individual Assistance (IA) data. These three datasets begin the process of identifying key needs post-Harvey and areas that were hardest hit. This analysis is the first step in what will be a much deeper damage assessment intended for phase two.
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    Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund Needs Assessment: Phase Two
    (Kinder Institute for Urban Research, 2018) Wu, Jie; Zhang, Mingming; Park, John; Villegas, Carlos; Patterson, Grant; Shelton, Kyle
    This report represents the second phase of the Kinder Institute for Urban Research’s needs assessment work on behalf of the Greater Houston Community Foundation and the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund. This document includes an updated analysis of zip code level 211 data from October 11 to November 30, 2017, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Individual Assistance (IA) data as of December 5, 2017, and FEMA Individual and Households Program (IHP) data as of December 20, 2017, all for Harris County. This report includes a summary of the data provided by the American Red Cross’ Coordinated Assistance Network (CAN) as of January 5, 2018 (this information was not in the Phase One report). In addition, this report includes a damage assessment for Harris County presented at the census block group level. This assessment combines data from the City of Houston, Harris County and multiple non-profit groups. Summaries of several of the largest needs assessments undertaken since Hurricane Harvey are also included here.
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    Lessons from Harvey: Crisis Informatics for Urban Resilience
    (Kinder Institute for Urban Research, 2018) Villegas, Carlos; Martinez, Matthew; Krause, Matthew
    Social media systems and crowdsourced data sites were incredibly active during Hurricane Harvey. Residents, first responders and officials all turned to these systems to impart information and make calls for assistance. These systems will likely continue to hold a central informational and communication role in future disasters. Analyzing the trends and information that come from these sources in real-time could aid the recovery process and help public agencies, first responders and researchers more quickly assess damages during and immediately after a disaster. This report demonstrates some of the work that could be done with this type of information. It suggests that public agencies work closely with social media companies and the operators of crowdsourced sites to install plans to incorporate these systems into the disaster recovery process.
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    Rethinking Disaster Recovery and Mitigation Funding in the Wake of Hurricane Harvey
    (Kinder Institute for Urban Research, 2018) Villegas, Carlos; Wowk, Kateryna (Katya); Shelton, Kyle; Lightbourne, Jesseca
    This research brief provides context about how the recovery process is unfolding in the Hurricane Harvey-affected region and how the area can prevent a similar situation from happening again. It examines how localities, states and the nation approach funding comprehensive disaster preparation, recovery and overall resilience. This report is a follow-up to a previous research brief on the complexities of disaster recovery funding. This report addresses three major areas. First, it examines challenges in Texas in securing effective hazard mitigation planning and resilience building to flood events. Second, it highlights the issues caused by a focus on short-term recovery funding and the shortfalls of one of the major long-term mitigation programs, the National Flood Insurance Program. Third, it addresses the gaps and negative incentives created by the current funding system and offers steps to improve accountability and encourage more proactive mitigation efforts. The Harvey-affected region is in the midst of an ongoing national conversation about how to shape future efforts at resilience and disaster preparation. The recommendations of this research brief offer suggestions about how we all might move the system forward.
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    The 2020 State of Housing in Harris County and Houston
    (Kinder Institute for Urban Research, 2020) Shelton, Kyle; Park, John; Villegas, Carlos; Guajardo, Luis; Servidio, Chris; Zhang, Zhiyan
    The Kinder Institute's inaugural State of Housing in Harris County and Houston report provides a consistent and accessible baseline of information about housing-related issues to all Houstonians. This report will be updated annually to track shifts in how the housing system in our region is changing. The Kinder Institute will provide an updated report annually and make housing indicators available for all stakeholders to access. This first report establishes a baseline by comparing how dozens of key housing indicators have shifted between 2010 and 2018. Subsequent annual reports will add the latest year of data to the analysis and track trends over time.
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    Troubled Fiscal Times: A Comparison of Revenue Sources and Service Levels for Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio
    (Kinder Institute for Urban Research, 2020) Fulton, William; Villegas, Carlos; Shelton, Kyle; Griffin, Ben; Bise, Carson
    This report examines the revenue structure and service levels for Texas' three largest cities: Houston, San Antonio and Dallas. The intent is to understand the differences in the cities’ revenue structures — and whether any one of the three is unusually constrained — while at the same time seeking to understand how their revenue is used to provide services, especially in four key areas: police, fire, parks and solid waste. Although most of the research for this report was conducted before the COVID-19 crisis, some information on the impact of the related economic downturn has been incorporated.