Good morning, Houston. It's Wednesday. 🌦️ Temperature check: High of 93; low of 73. Justin's insight: Today will bring at least an isolated chance for a stray storm in areas mainly along and south of Interstate 10. Read more here. 📅 Today's calendar: Houston City Council will meet today at 9 a.m. Find the agenda here. |
 | Cat DeLaura
Audience Engagement Producer
cat.delaura@houstonchronicle.com |
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Today we're talking about affordable housing in Harris County... |
If you read one thing: Unlike the city of Houston, which recently ended a $60 million program to develop affordable single-family housing using Hurricane Harvey disaster recovery money, Harris County officials said they are on track to meet their December 2024 deadline for a mixed-income subdivision funded by Harvey recovery funds. What is Harris County's plan for the subdivision? Named Orchard Place, between 50 and 75 percent of the single-family houses and townhomes in the 8.4-acre subdivision in Pasadena will be affordable for households earning 80 percent of the Houston area's median income or below. Orchard Place is just one of four planned subdivisions by the county. In total, the subdivisions will produce roughly 200 new homes, at least half of which will be affordable. How much will the homes cost? Prices will be under $300,000, though the sales price can be reduced up to 45 percent, up to $35,000 in down payment assistance can be provided, interest rates can be bought down and closing costs can be covered. Once a homebuyer purchases an affordable home, though, they're expected to stay there for at least 10 years for their home buying assistance to be fully forgiven.
Read Rebecca Schuetz's full story here.
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Susan Barber / Houston Chronicle |
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🗣️ Letters to the Editor: Gov. Greg Abbott's school vouchers will segregate Texas children, writes one reader. 🗪 Other points of view: Houston is the perfect host for a U.S. World's Fair bid. What better place for a world expo with no set boundaries than Houston, in the state where everything is bigger, writes Charles Pappas, a world expo historian and consultant to the U.S.'s Expo 2027 bid. The mayor's Fifth Ward buyout plan isn't a simple fix. Houston City Council should push for a plan that incorporates community desires, is protected against the changing winds of a new administration and has a proposal for how to use the funds if it turns out only a few people want to move, writes the Editorial Board.
Sign up for the "SaysHou" newsletter to get more editorials, columns and letters curated by the Chronicle's opinion team here. |
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Ken Ellis / Houston Chronicle |
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Yi-Chin Lee / Houston Chronicle |
Lee: I just visited Paris, France, for the first time this spring and had amazing French croissants. I realized none of the croissants I'd had in my life were close to the ones I had in Paris. They were just that good. When I randomly scrolled through Y&H Buttery Bakery on Google Maps and saw the layers of their croissants, I knew they were legit croissants. But I still had to try the taste. To my surprise, they were just like the ones I had in Paris and the best croissants I've had in Houston. I started talking to the married couple who owns and runs the bakery and found out they have an incredible story. Owner and chef Sam Yang had never been to France and never even had a bite of a French croissant. He was completely self-taught. An immigrant from Taiwan, Sam worked at Chinese bakeries making Chinese bread during his early 20s but never had traditional French pastry training. Later, he left the food industry. He started making croissants only because his wife wanted to have French croissants. He started by watching YouTube videos, then studying pastry books and trying out many recipes. Sam kept his day job while testing croissant recipes at night and on weekends. After three to four years, he finally found his perfect recipe. They opened the bakery in the spring of 2023. To me, this is a perfect City of Food story. An immigrant who has never been to France and never had professional training, but he makes the best French croissant in Houston. Watch the full episode about Y&H Buttery Bakery here. |
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I'm curious. Do you agree with Yi-Chin Lee's opinion about Y&H Buttery Bakery's croissants? If not, who do you think has the best croissants in Houston? Hit reply and let me know! Cat DeLaura cat.delaura@houstonchronicle.com |
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