calculator for 'green' home improvements

http://www.lahn.utexas.org/cbhit/CBHIT.html

© is held by the LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin.

Any reference or publication reference to the model should be as follows: 

LBJ School of Public Affairs. 2012 Cost-Benefit Home Intervention Tool or C-BHIT at www.utexas.lahn.org

"The 1982 peso devaluation crippled the Valley economy. By contrast, the 1994 devaluation barely slowed economic growth. The reason was a more diversified economy. Tourism, manufacturing, supply manufacturing and health care now complement agriculture. Retail sales in Texas cities bounced back strongly from the peso collapse, rising by $300m in 1996 to $5.5 billion. "Everyone's got a theme park. We ain't got a theme park," explained one Valley politician; "Mexico's our theme park.""

"Since the coming of NAFTA, foreign companies including BMW, Sony and Matsushita have set up maquiladoras in Reynosa and Matamoros. In turn, smaller supply companies have grown up in McAllen and Harlingen, where land is cheaper."

"McAllen (slogan: "It's Naftastic!") is the third-fastest-growing city in the United States and one of the cheapest in which to do business. Despite a 7% job-growth rate, unemployment runs at 16%. The city has concentrated on education and infrastructure to improve its prospects. The South Texas Community College has grown from 600 to 6,000 students in three years, and the city offers to train employees for companies coming in. The Texas State Technical College in Harlingen serves a similar purpose. The University of Texas Pan-Am in Edinburg ("Taco-Tech"), has seen enrolment grow by 400% since 1987. The region's cities on the American side are fiercely competitive for federal dollars; there are, for example, five international airports in a 50-mile radius. But they are trying to work together. Recently, they have combined to try to attract major-league baseball clubs for spring training. Officials are co-operating to bring I-69, the proposed Montreal-Mexico City freeway, through the Valley, a case strengthened by the fact that the region remains the largest urban area in the United States without an interstate highway. There is talk of consolidating cities on both sides into a single metropolitan sprawl known as "Borderplex"."

source:
http://www.uwec.edu/geography/ivogeler/w188/articles/txmx.htm
1997 The Economist Newspaper Limited. All Rights Reserved

" Another factor that resulted in increased Mexican immigration was the maquiladora. A 
maquiladora is a “Mexican manufacturing or assembly plant owned or sponsored by a foreign 
country” (Williams, 2002). Under the maquiladora program, materials and equipment are 
imported duty-free for assembly or manufacturing provided that they are re-exported. The 
receiving company then pays a small value-added tariff equivalent to the computed value of the 
work done in the maquiladora (Williams, 2002). Given the low wages paid in Mexican factories, 
this arrangement proved to be quite profitable for American companies. The maquiladora 
program also proved beneficial to Mexico and her citizens as it created millions of jobs (source: 

http://www.maquilaportal.com). "


" Ward et al. (2004) have investigated the relationship between land and housing market performance and lot title regularization in several colonias outside Rio Grande City, Starr County, Texas. Specifically, these researchers investigated the effect on land prices of a title regularization initiative to clear property titles of very poor households as an intervention implemented by the Community Resources Group (CRG) Receivership Program. The CRG is a non-governmental organization commissioned by the State of Texas to undertake title regularization in 15 colonias outside Rio Grande City. For their study, the authors formed two sample groups. A “study group” which consisted of those families who had no titles or who had experienced major difficulties associated with their titles or residence and who ultimately received titles as a result of the CRG intervention. Also, the researchers formed a “control group” consisting of resident households who had not experienced serious title problems and, therefore, were not affected by the CRG intervention. The researchers found that the provision of formal property titles as part of a policy to regularize land titles appears to have an insignificant influence upon market performance or upon land prices. Instead, it is sweat equity (sweat equity is the contribution made to a project by people who contribute their time and effort), resulting in housing improvement, that raises the property value and which gives rise to some equity creation and to potential wealth creation for the lot purchaser. "

source: 

FRANK MARTINEZ III, M.A.

Las colonias de la frontera: A study of substandard housing settlements along the Texas-Mexico border

Dissertation describes the history of Mexican immigration from the 19th century through to the Bracero program, the differences between colonias in the states that border Mexico and the history of policies that shaped the proliferation of colonias. 

Colonias program promotoras help Socorro flooding victims

Colonias program promotoras help Socorro flooding victims

The Texas A&M Colonias Program came to the aid of flood-stricken West Texans last September when heavy rain and rising water drove many colonia residents in Socorro, a suburb of El Paso, from their homes.

The local community center, operated by the Colonias Program and the city of Socorro, was transformed into an emergency operations center, and the program’s community workers, known as promotoras, were dispersed around the community to check on residents threatened by the floodwaters. 

http://one.arch.tamu.edu/news/2013/10/29/colonias-program-promotoras-help-socorro-flooding-victims/

Colonias and Public Policy in Texas and Mexico Urbanization by Stealth

Peter Ward: 
Colonias and Public Policy in Texas and Mexico Urbanization by Stealth 


This book is about the phenomenon of colonias in Texas and in northern Mexican border states. While the focus is upon the Texas-Mexico border, the findings will bear scrutiny in all of the border states, given that throughout the border region colonias are important low-income housing areas, the principal characteristics of which are cheaply acquired land, inadequate infrastructure, and self-help dwelling construction. But despite the enormous social costs associated with living and raising a family under these conditions, colonias are home for a large number of people—indeed, in Mexico, for the majority of the population in many cities. Fortunately, the physical conditions in colonias improve over time. They are, in the words of one author, "Slums of hope" (Lloyd 1979), such that between fifteen and twenty years after their establishment they have often become integrated working-class districts with paved roads, services installed, and consolidated dwellings, many with two stories. They are, then, both a problem and a solution—at least if one takes a long-term perspective (Mangin 1967). 


http://utpress.utexas.edu/index.php/books/warcol

FREE TRADE AND THE ENVIRONMENT: A CASE STUDY OF THE TEXAS COLONIAS

F. Andrew Schoolmaster:
FREE TRADE AND THE ENVIRONMENT:
A CASE STUDY OF THE TEXAS COLONIAS

Department of Geography
University of North Texas

http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1131&context=greatplainsresearch

bordercoalition.org

The Border Low Income Housing Coalition (BLIHC) is a grassroots coalition that responds to the severely substandard conditions found in colonias along the Texas-Mexico border. It consists of 350 low-income border residents, housing providers, advocates, government officials, and lenders, united in the pursuit of socially and economically just community development policies. 
The Coalition is led by colonia residents, who have experienced first-hand the unnecessary suffering in border communities that lack basic infrastructure such as water, wastewater, electricity and sewage services. The BLIHC is devoted to the belief that through a unified coalition of border residents, change is possible.

The BLIHC has a history of successfully challenging the State of Texas and its elected officials to improve living conditions in border colonias. Since it’s founding in 1993, the BLIHC has secured the allocation of over $50 million in public funds and has played a pivotal role in reforming the State’s housing agency.

The BLIHC devotes itself on an array of community development issues, including housing, infrastructure, water quality, public health, and democratic, accountable governance. Gloria Romo, the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service’s (TxLIHIS) community organizer, is striving to reorganize the BLIHC through her organizing efforts in Laredo-area colonias. From our office in Austin, TxLIHIS is making the Coalition’s work accessible to the public, press, and policy-makers.
This website tells the story of the Border Coalition: of its meager beginnings, its challenges, its astounding victories, and its outlook for the future.

(2005)

source:
http://www.bordercoalition.org/page9/page9.html

Attorney General - Colonias prevention

The Office of the Attorney General has enforcement responsibilities under several of these laws. To assist the public and governmental agencies in understanding and following these laws, the Office of the Attorney General has compiled them into a booklet and developed assorted materials to explain them.

Texas laws intended to prevent colonias take a variety of forms and apply in a variety of circumstances. The Texas Legislature has refined these laws during the past 15 years. Some of the major laws apply only in the border area or in "economically distressed" counties with high unemployment and low per capita income.

The laws have four major thrusts:

(1) requiring subdividers to provide basic infrastructure (water, sewer, roads, and drainage) when creating (or "platting") new residential developments,
(2) restricting the advertising and selling of lots that are not platted or that lack water and sewer,
(3) limiting connections to utilities in substandard areas, and
(4) mandating certain disclosures and protections when lots are sold through contracts for deeds.

https://www.oag.state.tx.us/agency/weeklyag/2010/0410colonia.pdf


source:
https://www.oag.state.tx.us/consumer/border/colonias.shtml

Attorney General - colonias map

https://maps.oag.state.tx.us/colgeog/colgeog_online.html#app=a527&1d99-selectedIndex=1

Current funding programs for Colonias research:

Current funding programs for Colonias research:

International: U.S. & Mexico

- Border Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC)

- North American Development Bank (NADB)

- Conagua

Federal: U.S.

- US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

- US Department of Agriculture

State: Texas

- Texas Water Development Board (TWDB)

- Texas Department of Agriculture

- Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

- Texas Workforce Commission

- Texas Commission of Environmental Quality (TCEQ)

Nuestra Casa

Presentation by Cecilia on 8th October 2013.

Nuestra Casa is a program run by CRG (Community Research Group) who offer micro - loans to residents of colonias for home improvements.

The study argues that colonias residents are credit-worthy, they can pay off a small loan from their salaries. Hence small loans do not have to be used only on income generating activities.

Nuestra Casa does not require collateral.
Number of 'lost' loans declined over the years.

Meeting with Pliny 12th October 2013

- I should go to a colonia, live there, build a house with my own resources and hands
- CMPBS are working on a colonia near Austin, I should come to the center on weekends and work on a proposal, help them - help me
- Sasha - contact, engineer, sewage, in colonias

The Colonias Reader: Economy, Housing, and Public Health in U.S.-Mexico Border Colonias.

The book I used for searching the history of colonias, the Bracero program, policies, etc.



http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=nGMKjPUR_cgC&oi=fnd&pg=PA4&dq=The+Colonias+Reader:+Economy,+Housing,+and+Public+Health+in+U.S.-Mexico+Border+Colonias.&ots=td6dFoVNgI&sig=zMuK3djhMy4ZwLRKpoqXHb25s5c#v=onepage&q=The%20Colonias%20Reader%3A%20Economy%2C%20Housing%2C%20and%20Public%20Health%20in%20U.S.-Mexico%20Border%20Colonias.&f=false

Reports to the President of the United States

Reports on the state of border region from 1995 to date.


http://www.epa.gov/ocem/gneb/gneb_president_reports.htm

Reports to the President of the United States

Reports on the state of border region from 1995 to date.


http://www.epa.gov/ocem/gneb/gneb_president_reports.htm

Colonias - Quick facts

soucre: http://www.tceq.texas.gov/assets/public/border/colonias-large.jpg

Section 16.343:Minimum State Standards and Model Political Subdivision Rules

Texas Water Code

Section 16.343:Minimum State Standards and Model Political Subdivision Rules

This code defines standards to be adhered to for Model Political Subdivision. 

http://www.weblaws.org/texas/laws/tex._water_code_section_16.343_minimum_state_standards_and_model_political_subdivision_rules

Colonias possible funding sectors

Education:
- Texas Workforce Commission's Communities in Schools projects and alternative school programs 
- The Department of Protective and Regulatory Services (DPRS): Social Security funding available for community-based services for children at risk of being placed in foster homes
- Social Security Act: Title XX 

Infrastructure: 
- Texas Department of Commerce: 
    - Texas Capital Fund - works with local governments on economic development projects with federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds
   - Texas Capital Fund - Main Street Improvements Program, a federal program designed to improve slums and other blighted areas

Transport: 
- Texas Department of Transportation - Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA)
beyond traditional highway and public transportation projects, including landscaping and other scenic beautification and historic preservation projects. ISTEA provides 80 percent of the funding for such projects, with 20 percent coming from the state or local governments

Credit: 
- Texas Capital Fund - Micro-loan program to start or expand small businesses 
- Community centers -  Loan management and business training 

Parks:
- Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife -  Park development program (sports and other recreational park areas)


CHUD can work with colonias, counties, and local metropolitan planning authorities to identify eligible projects, submit application forms, and obtain approvals necessary to secure these funds

information from approximately 1996
source:
http://www.window.texas.gov/tpr/tpr4/c2.hhs/c212.html

Texas A&M Colonias factbooks

Texas Department of Human Services, The Colonias Factbook (Austin, Texas, June 1988), p. 1-3.

Texas Water Development Board, Water and Wastewater Needs of Texas Colonias: 1995 Update (Austin, Texas, February 1995), p. 3.

Proposal to U.S. Housing and Urban Development from Texas A&M University, Center for Housing and Urban Development, Community Outreach Partnership between Residents of Ten Colonias Along Highway 359 East of Laredo, Texas and The Government of Webb County, Texas and Texas A&M University's Colonias Program (College Station, Texas, April 1994). (Booklet.)

Texas Department of Human Services, The Colonias Factbook, pp. 6-4, 6-5.

Texas A&M University, Colonias Program Performance Appraisal and Opportunities for the State of Texas to Improve Colonia Conditions (College Station, Texas, July 23, 1996), p. 7.

Economic Analysis of Decentralized Options for Providing Water Service to Low-Income Settlements

http://idea.library.drexel.edu/bitstream/1860/3171/1/Martinez_Gurian_Cook.pdf