“It could be a two-hour drive, especially because I’m driving into downtown Houston,” Nunoz said. “I’m driving through the worst part of traffic to get to work.”

Stories like Nunoz’s are not uncommon. As our city grows uncontrollably, its traffic is getting worse. As the traffic worsens, it hurts Houston’s most vulnerable citizens.

How Our City’s Size Hurts the Poor

For reference, let’s remember how huge Houston is. The city is almost as large as the state of Massachusetts. It dwarfs Hawaii (the island, not the chain). Houston is massive.

Urban sprawl affects everybody, but it touches the lives of the poor most of all. Low-income residents are most likely to be affected by urban development and often lack the political connections to change anything.

Something as simple as traveling becomes difficult when you’re poor in one of the most car-centric cities in the world.

Stephen L. Klineberg, co-director of the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University, called it a city “built for the car, by the car.”

“You can’t get around without a car,” he said.

The problem is that cars are expensive. When you start adding up the cost of buying a car, gas, insurance, and repairs, it becomes prohibitively expensive. AAA found owning a car costs $9,122 per year when everything’s tallied up. For poor households with average median incomes as low as $12,089, that’s too much.

When owning a car is too expensive, you ride the bus. That sucks, because Houston Metro sucks. Buses arrive infrequently and use confusing routes at weird hours.

“Nobody’s gonna use [the bus] unless they’re desperate,” said Peter Brown, director of planning group Better Houston. “We need walkable cities.”

Brown told Free Press Houston he often asks people waiting for a bus how long they’ve been waiting. He claims they usually say 30-45 minutes.

That’s too long for blue-collar residents working jobs that pay by the hour. Every second you’re waiting for the bus is a second you’re not making money.

Someone who works for minimum wage ($7.25/hour) loses $1,885, assuming they spend an hour on the bus every day for the average work time of 260 days. When you’re poor, you need every dollar.

Modern Segregation

Then there are the long-term societal problems from spreading out the city. Klineberg explained when everyone has enough room to move anywhere, people tend to clump in like groups.

That means the rich people lock themselves away in gated communities. This removes a lot of opportunities for low-income residents to make connections and find better jobs.

“As jobs become more distant, it is also more difficult to participate in informal networks through which job placements are often made,” one study said. “This is most evident for racial minorities and particularly African Americans.”

Physical distance compounds racial distance. It creates real barriers between poor minority groups and middle-class white people. In the end, the poor stay poor.

So Why Don’t We Fix It?

Houston is in this situation because of its geography and politics.

Klineberg attributes Houston’s growth to a couple factors. One of the biggest is the lack of natural barriers. Other than the Gulf of Mexico, Houston has unlimited room to grow.

“It’s a developer’s paradise,” Klineberg said.

Houston woos land developers, nurturing them in a warm environment that eschews any harsh zoning laws or serious regulations.

The city has refrained from putting a leash on the growth in part because of the dedicated efforts of special-interest groups.

A quick look into Mayor Annise Parker’s 2024 campaign finance documents reveals 7 contributions from development-related groups for the last reporting period alone. Her reelection campaign received $19,000 from groups such as Houstonians for Responsible Growth (realtors, builders and architects who oppose zoning) and Jacobs Metro Area PAC (the political arm of Jacobs Engineering Group, a construction company).

These contributions show that land development advocacy groups exist and are working to keep Houston expanding.

“HRG’s mission is to work with elected officials and the public to preserve the policies and principles that have made Houston one of the most affordable and successful major cities in the world,” their website reads.

At least HRG is direct about their goals. We could not reach any of its founders in time for publication.

But then they’re just one of many groups invested in expanding Houston. There’s a lot of money in building more houses, even if it hurts the poor.

Will Anything Change?

The real question is whether anything can change Houston’s rampant growth addiction.

Klineberg thinks so. He sees the growing population of 20- and 30-somethings that put off having kids and buying a home as the very people who will push for a more dense urban core.

They want sidewalks, trees and parks, the stuff you can’t find among Houston’s current bird’s nest of highways.

That and a projected increase in population should force Houston to implement new public transportation systems.

“The 21st century is different,” Klineberg told Free Press Houston. “We need new solutions.”

Illustration by Tim Dorsey

Why are local leaders condoning an assault on our public transit?

By Amanda Wolfe

When you go to the polls, you’ll vote on a ballot item that allows “the continued dedication of up to 25% of METRO’s sales and use tax revenues for street improvements and related projects” through December 31, 2024.

If you don’t know the facts, you’ll probably vote “for,” since – statistically – you’re with the majority of Houstonians in wanting more and better public transit options (as indicated in Rice University’s 2024 Kinder Houston Area Survey). You’ll walk out of your polling place feeling good about voting for a sustainable Houston.

And, without knowing it, you’ll have just voted to effectively shut down light rail and bus expansion until 2024.

That scenario is what proponents of passing the METRO referendum are hoping will play out many times. The confusing messaging in the referendum is not accidental. During the June METRO hearings, Houstonians for Responsible Growth—along with real estate developer and Mischer Investments L.P. partner Walt Mischer Jr.—threatened to hijack METRO’s future if Houston’s vote went against their interests. When HRG and Mischer announced that a handful of people would pay lobbyists hundreds of thousands of dollars to try to convince the Texas legislature to overturn any vote against the referendum, local leaders quickly fell into line.

What METRO’s board and many public figures, including Mayor Annise Parker, are now endorsing is the continuation of what is known as the General Mobility Program, which METRO says was “established to enhance mobility and ease traffic congestion.” The GMP is funded through a penny-per-dollar sales tax paid by citizens in the METRO service area throughout Harris County. Twenty-five percent of this GMP funding is meant to be spent on projects to improve public transit, including road repairs in areas with high bus traffic.

Unfortunately, as anyone driving on Houston’s rotting roads can guess, that GMP funding has not been fairly distributed. Some small cities and outlying areas receive up to a 1600 percent return on GMP tax money paid by their citizens, while the City of Houston receives only 20 percent of what Houstonians pay into the GMP.

The biggest catch of the GMP is this: None of the additional funding METRO would receive may be used for light rail. Yes, you read that right. Transit tax cannot be used on one of the most important parts of our city’s transit infrastructure. It is, simply put, a bad deal.

So far, our city has lost $2.7 billion in funding that was meant for transit improvements. If the referendum passes, we will lose $2.1 billion more. METRO admits that it cannot account for all of the lost funding. A few of the only tangible results are road improvements in outlying areas without bus service and the repaving of a handful of cul-de-sacs.

Although METRO CEO George Greanias admitted, during a July speech at HCC’s Northwest College Spring Branch Campus, that continuing the GMP would result in METRO falling further behind in meeting the city’s transit needs, the METRO board’s public stance is in support of the referendum. The chorus of support includes formerly pro-transit Mayor Parker, who endorses a program that excludes and stalls light rail, even as the University Line languishes – unfinished and behind schedule – east of downtown.

So, what happens if you vote against the METRO referendum? METRO receives six times the funding it currently receives for transit, and with no restrictions on using it for light rail or bus expansion. Furthermore, METRO could still share some of that transit sales tax revenue for road improvements, so Houston’s streets could be renewed for buses, cars, and bikes. Voting against the bad deal METRO endorses (at least on the surface) is the first step in a larger fight.

If you still can’t wrap your mind around the idea, think of it this way. You’re not voting against METRO; you’re voting against sprawl. You’re not voting against transit improvements; you’re voting against a few individuals wanting to control the future of your city. You’re not voting against a sustainable infrastructure; you’re voting against the bad deal that’s prevented us from already having one.

There’s no reason why the fourth largest city in the nation should be this far behind New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago in public transit. Houston recently announced a bid for the 2024 Super Bowl, which would be admirable if we had more than seven miles of light rail and an expanded bus system. In terms of ridership per mile, METRO rail is more successful than any other in the nation. Imagine us having more.

Can you picture Houston serving not only commuters who’d rather take a dedicated bus or rail to work than sit frustrated in traffic, but also an influx of tourists for a Super Bowl? Houston bidding on the Olympics? Houston with cleaner air, happier citizens, and less road congestion?

I can. So I’m voting against the METRO referendum. I love my city, and I want better transit.

To learn more, please visit supporthoustontransit.org