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

Where United Airlines Should Establish a New Hub

September 8, 2020 in Blog /by Tory Gattis

by Tory Gattis — United Airlines has planes and crews idled by the pandemic – they could establish a new hub somewhere if they wanted to. But where would a new hub fill gaps and make economic sense?

Houston a Model of Land-Use and Affordable Housing Reform for the Country

September 1, 2020 in Blog /by Tory Gattis

by Tory Gattis — For proven housing reform, look at Houston, arguably the most pro-housing city in the country. Houston leads housing affordability for large metros.

Houston Ranks 3rd Among Global Cities of Future, Explaining the ‘Evil Developer’ Trope, and more

August 25, 2020 in Blog /by Tory Gattis

Houston ranks 3rd among global cities of the future. The Texan city is a reputable talent hub and offers a welcoming business environment.

How Houston Defied Doomsday COVID Predictions, HTX books and art, transportation innovations, and more

August 17, 2020 in Blog /by Tory Gattis

How Houston Defied Doomsday COVID Predictions: Houston’s approach is a model for how hospital systems should handle intense case surges.

Tax & Regulatory Burden Rankings, Houston Walkability and More

August 10, 2020 in Blog /by Tory Gattis

Houston has the lowest tax burden of major U.S. metro areas: a lower regulatory burden for Houstonians means paychecks stretch further.

Misleading Poverty Stats, What $250K Buys You in Houston, Density and Transit vs. COVID

July 20, 2020 in Blog /by Tory Gattis

Houston allows even the poorest to come here seeking opportunity rather than blocking them out thru restrictive housing policy. And their point about rich neighborhoods being next to poor ones is also great! That means there is affordable housing near the jobs (esp. service jobs). Every major job center in Houston has affordable neighborhoods within a 15-minute transit ride.

Better Understanding of What Makes Houston Special

July 6, 2020 in Blog /by Tory Gattis

by Tory Gattis — Just a few short items this week mostly around a common theme of understanding what makes Houston special; food, music, parks and friendly people…

Is Traffic Congestion a Con?

June 24, 2020 in Blog /by Tory Gattis

Last month, INRIX issued a new report on urban traffic congestion worldwide, with new rankings for U.S. metro areas. Has expanding freeway capacity failed or were comparison metrics poorly chosen?

Houston Most Affordable High-Growth Metro

June 15, 2020 in Blog /by Tory Gattis

by Tory Gattis — Houston is the most affordable high-growth metro, with rents more affordable than Dallas, Austin or even San Antonio. Other affordable metros are slow-growth to stagnant or declining.

Klineberg plugs Houspitality, HTX outbuilds NYC, escape from New York, and more

June 8, 2020 in Blog /by Tory Gattis

by Tory Gattis — if you’re looking for something new to read during this lockdown, I wanted to suggest a new book from Rice’s Stephen Klineberg: The Prophetic City – Houston on the Cusp of a Changing America, all about how we’ve evolved over recent decades through the lens of his annual Houston Area Survey. Houston Strategies and Houspitality get a mention!