The Future of Cities: Houston

With the COVID-19 pandemic significantly influencing national demographics and moving patterns, The Harris Poll and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs teamed up in November 2020 to understand how the pandemic has influenced the current and future state of American cities. Alongside other residents of other large metropolitan cities, Houston residents were surveyed about their attitudes on urban living. This study reveals that although the pandemic has negatively influenced some aspects of big city living, ultimately, residents are still hopeful about the future of their city.

Urban Living Still Rivals the Appeal of Suburbia

The COVID-19 pandemic has had widespread effect on Americans’ everyday lives, especially those that live in urban areas. No longer merely staying home, many urban dwellers have considered moving to new homes outside the city. Specifically within Houston, the largest plurality of residents prefer city living; however, more sparsely populated areas are also alluring. Asked hypothetically where they would choose to live, 49% of residents say they would prefer to live in a city (big or small), another 35% would choose the suburbs, and another 16% would choose a rural area.

Although the pandemic has encouraged many people to move, most Houston residents are happy to stay put. Although 30% of residents say their current experiences with the pandemic would make them more likely to move to a suburban or rural area, most residents (63%) would not change where they currently live.*

Getting Down to Business

Despite their desire to stay put, Houston residents are still concerned about local problems. Similar to those living in other metropolitan areas across the country, top concerns about their city include COVID-19 (58%), taxes and fees (39%), the economy (32%), and public safety (29%).

Is Government Up to the Task?

Overall, residents believe in their local leadership’s capability to govern better than higher levels of government. In fact, most residents agree that their city’s elected leaders are more capable of governing than Congress (65%), state-elected officials (61%), and the President (54%).** Additionally, they disagree that their city’s elected officials play politics more often than state-elected officials (58%), Congress (55%), and the President (54%).

When it comes to fundamental needs, the majority of Houston residents (76%) agree that standard services in their city, such as sanitation, fire protection, and public transit, are sufficiently provided. However, on approval of larger city issues, residents are more divided on local leadership performance.

Handling the COVID-19 crisis

When it comes to the ongoing pandemic, although nearly half of all residents express high confidence in local leadership’s ability to Houston residents are fairly divided on how well city leadership has responded to it. Only one in five residents (18%) would prefer that city-elected officials take the lead on addressing the pandemic, but a little more than twice that say their city’s mayor (43%) and other county or regional officials (42%) have been very or extremely effective at addressing the COVID-19 pandemic.***

Looking closer at the head of local leadership, Houston’s mayor, a noteworthy share of residents are very dissatisfied with the mayor’s pandemic performance. Eighteen percent of all residents say their mayor has not been not been effective at all in addressing the pandemic. Despite this disapproval, though, more than double this number still stand behind their mayor’s ability to handle the pandemic: 44% of all residents say they are very or extremely confident in their mayor’s ability to respond to the ongoing pandemic.

Divisions in local support may help explain why most residents prefer national (41%) or state (23%) elected officials take the lead on responding to COVID-19. However, while 45% of residents think the state governor has been effective at handling COVID-19, only a third say the same about the federal government. With no simultaneous winner across both who should take the lead and who has been most effective, city leadership may remain the best-supported option for helping Houston successfully ride out the pandemic.

Money matters

The overall economic climate and cost of living are on the mind of many Houston residents. Though less so than other major metropolitan areas, Houston residents are still concerned about taxes and fees (39%), the economy (32%), and economic inequality (17%). Two-thirds of residents also say that the affordability of housing in their city is very or extremely important to them.

Currently, Houston residents are fairly divided on how well local and state leadership have been at addressing economic inequality. A little more than half of area residents say their mayor (57%) and other county and regional officials (56%) have been at least somewhat effective at addressing economic inequality. They feel the same about their state governor, too (55%).****

Looking more specifically at standards of living, one in five area residents (22%) say they are concerned about housing in their city, and two-thirds (67%) say the affordability of housing in their city is very or extremely important to them. It appears local leadership has done comparatively well at providing affordable housing opportunities for residents as most residents agree say that their mayor (55%) and other county or regional officials (59%) have been at least somewhat effective at addressing affordable housing.

Only 36% or residents say that Houston does not have enough affordable housing options — the lowest of all major metropolitan areas surveyed. Of this still noteworthy minority that don’t think the city has enough affordable housing, 87% would like to see more affordable housing in their city. Most are also willing to see more affordable housing in their own neighborhoods, too.

This likely explains why the largest plurality of area residents want their city elected officials to take the lead on affordable housing (37%) — also higher that all other metropolitan areas surveyed. That said, 42% would still prefer to see higher levels of government dictate policy on affordable housing, and a fifth (21%) would even prefer the private sector take the lead.

This may reflect an undercurrent of uncertainty about housing prices in Houston. Only 32% of residents are very or extremely confident in their mayor’s ability to keep housing affordable moving forward.

Tackling Climate Change

Evaluating local government efforts

The well-being of the environment and human-influenced climate change have become key concerns for those living in and around highly populated areas. The same is true for those living in Houston with most residents (60%) saying cities should be doing more to combat climate change. In fact, one in five Houston residents (21%) say they are most concerned about the environment and climate change in their city.

Houston area residents vary in their evaluation of how their local government has handled climate change so far. Most residents say their city’s parks and recreation department (61%) and other county and regional officials (51%) have been at least somewhat effective at addressing climate change. However, only 48% say the same about their mayor. In fact, only 33% say they are extremely or very confident in their mayor’s ability to address climate change.

They exhibit similar sentiment regarding how effective their state governor (47%) and federal government (46%) have been at addressing climate change. Nevertheless, just over half of all Houston residents (51%) would still prefer that national elected officials take the lead on climate change. Only 9% would prefer city elected officials take the lead.

The role of transportation

Like other large cities, Houston is known for the extensive use of private vehicles and highways for transportation. Area residents appear determined to main such behavior: 80% support the construction of widened roads, and 65% of residents support the construction of additional highways.

Those seeking to slow human-influenced climate change have often proposed local transportation alternatives as one solution, and large metropolitan areas like Houston are well-positioned implement them. With fewer people currently on the roads, the pandemic may offer the opportunity to experiment with this recommendation.

Changing the transportation habits of employees may be a worthwhile start. Despite the pandemic, about half of all area residents (47%) still work outside their home, and nearly all of them (88%) travel to work by driving alone. When asked which types of transportation alternatives they would be willing to consider for commuting, more than half expressed interest in public transit (51%) or bicycles (both electric and non-electric) (52%).

Among those hesitant to embrace transportation alternatives, the most common obstacles had to do with long distances to work, too time spent in transit, and traffic safety concerns. COVID-19 safety concerns were also common with those hesitant to consider public transit (47%).

Given this interest in transportation alternatives, it is unsurprising that Houston residents support infrastructure for such vehicles. Three quarters (76%) of residents support additional infrastructure for bicycles and other very small vehicles.

It is clear that residents see the value in transportation alternatives, and with such enthusiasm, the city may have a good argument for testing and implementing such solutions. If leadership can address points of hesitation among residents to reduce obstacles to adoption, it may help  it meet residents’ expectations for doing more to combat climate change and help it be perceived as more effective at addressing climate change.

Collaboration beyond the U.S.

With other countries supporting and implementing climate change solutions, large cities like Houston have the opportunity to cooperate with other cities both domestically and internationally on climate change goals. In fact, most Houston residents (60%) say it is very or extremely important that their city engage internationally with other cities to handle climate change.

Addressing Racial Discrimination and Public Safety

Across the country, large metropolitan areas have seen their share of discrimination issues related to policing. This has made protests regarding police maltreatment and social justice commonplace for such areas, especially during the summer of 2020.

Most Houston area residents (56%) express support for the Black Lives Matter movement. However, when it comes to protests, residents are equally divided on whether they are concerned about social unrest in their city. Of those who are concerned, though, 66% say they specifically are concerned about social unrest in their own neighborhood.

Despite their concern, most believe that local and state officials have been effective at addressing protests over racism and policing rather than letting such situations worsen. Three out of five Houston residents say that their mayor (69%), the city’s police department (68%), other county or regional officials have been at least somewhat effective at addressing such protests (57%), and their governor have been at least somewhat effective at addressing protests over racism and policing.

Such positive evaluations of local government leadership explain why the largest plurality of residents (33%) would prefer city elected officials take the lead on handling protests about racism and policing — especially when compared to national (28%) and state elected officials (27%) and the private sector (12%).

Focusing on the Border

In the U.S., issues with race and discrimination extend to the conversation of immigration. For a place like Houston that is close to the southern U.S. border, immigration is an especially important topic. Immigration policies are still primarily dictated by the federal government; however, there have been arguments for cities to create their own immigration policies.

Houston residents appear to agree that their city should be allowed to dictate at least some of its own immigration policies. In fact, 89% say it is at least somewhat important that their city engage internationally with other cities and governments on immigration. More than two-thirds (68%) say it is very or extremely important for Houston to do so.

Looking Ahead

Like other large cities, Houston has not escaped the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even so, our research among its residents shows that the pandemic has not ruined the value of living in heavily populated areas. Houston residents are still committed to and invested in the overall well-being of their city, and they are determined to hold leadership accountable. Like those living in other large metropolitan areas, Houston residents know that their city is taking the right steps to ensure a bright future for their city.

*Note, self-defined urban level for Houston metropolitan area residents in this study is as follows: 23% central city or downtown, 33% inner suburb, 38% outer suburb or exurb, and 5% rural.
**The U.S. president at the time of this study was Donald Trump.
***The Houston mayor at the time of this study was Sylvester Turner.
****The Texas governor at the time of this study was Greg Abbott.

Methodology

This survey was conducted online within the United States between November 5, 2020, and November 16, 2020, among 1,200 adults (aged 18 and over) by The Harris Poll on behalf of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. The respondents surveyed were evenly divided among six U.S. metropolitan regions: New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, and Phoenix. Respondents self-identified the community type (i.e., central city/downtown, inner suburb, outer suburb/exurb, and rural) in which they lived. Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region, and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.

All sample surveys and polls, whether they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, the words “margin of error” are avoided as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in our surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population of each metropolitan area. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the online panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

Responses in this survey were tested for statistical significance using a Z-test with a confidence level of 95% and a Z-test with a confidence level of 90%. For more information on methodology, please contact Dami Rosanwo.

To explore more insights from our Future of Cities research, click here.