Tory Gattis, Author at Urban Reform Institute

About Tory Gattis

Tory Gattis is a Founding Senior Fellow with the Center for Opportunity Urbanism, and co-authored the original Opportunity Urbanism studies. Tory writes the popular Houston Strategies blog and its twin blog at the Houston Chronicle, Opportunity Urbanist, where he discusses strategies for making Houston a better city. Tory is a McKinsey consulting alum, TEDx speaker, and holds both an MBA and BSEE from Rice University.

tory@opportunityurbanism.org

Entries by

How a Biden Presidency Can Boost Houston and more

January 18, 2021 in Blog, Economics, Energy & Environment, Politics & Policy /by Tory Gattis

by Tory Gattis — Many people may be thinking of a Biden presidency as negative for the oil industry and Houston, but infrastructure projects could boost Houston.

Techxodus, Houston’s Identity, Future of Offices and more

January 12, 2021 in Blog, Housing /by Tory Gattis

by Tory Gattis — What defines Houston? Affordable housing is one of the things that makes Houston attractive to tech employees looking to relocate, and reap the benefits of the Texas model for supplying a continuous flow of new, affordable housing.

Bloomberg’s Case for Moving to Houston, URI 2020 Year in Review Video, and More

January 4, 2021 in Blog, Housing, Planning, Politics & Policy, Urban Issues /by Tory Gattis

by Tory Gattis — Bloomberg Businessweek’s makes “The Case for Moving to Houston” in a story on high-tech workers leaving the big expensive coastal cities.

New Zealand Adopts Texas Municipal Utility Districts (MUDs)

December 30, 2020 in Blog, Housing, Planning, Politics & Policy, Urban Issues /by Tory Gattis

by Tory Gattis — In 2018, New Zealand sent delegates to the USA to study urban development, with a focus on revenue bonds and municipal utility districts (MUDs) in Texas.

Best Posts of 2020 from Houston Strategies

December 28, 2020 in Blog /by Tory Gattis

by Tory Gattis — Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays. Time for our annual round-up of the best posts of 2020 – a year we might otherwise like to forget.

Post-Pandemic Housing Reality, Alt Cities to CA-NYC Housing Boom

December 21, 2020 in Blog, Economics, Housing, Politics & Policy /by Tory Gattis

by Tory Gattis — A post-pandemic housing boom is underway in alternative cities as residents flee high housing costs and low quality of life.

Silicon Valley Exits California for Texas

December 14, 2020 in Blog, Economics /by Tory Gattis

Silicon Valley exits California for Texas in a quest for lower taxes, less competition for talent and an affordable cost of living for employees.

Reason: Toll Agency Politicized in Houston

December 4, 2020 in Blog /by Tory Gattis

by Tory Gattis — Reason’s newest Surface Transportation Newsletter by Bob Poole talks about Harris County’s dangerous raid on HCTRA’s toll road money, and this is so important I’m reposting it in full here (highlights mine)

A better alternative to channelizing Buffalo Bayou, VC leaving CA for TX, life science and entrepreneurship rankings, big solar, and more

November 23, 2020 in Blog /by Tory Gattis

by Tory Gattis — My lead item this week is my proposed alternative to channelizing Buffalo Bayou or an expensive tunnel to better drain the westside reservoirs and avoid a future Harvey flooding tragedy.

Planning Starts for Houston’s Managed Lanes Network, Plus COVID Impact on Metro Ridership

November 16, 2020 in Blog /by Tory Gattis

by Tory Gattis — Dallas has experienced a ridership drop of 57%, nearly identical to Houston. We probably won’t see a rebound in transit ridership until there is widespread vaccination and rush-hour traffic congestion returns to pre-covid levels.