The Kinder Institute has already launched a wide-ranging blog series called “COVID-19 and Cities,” which is examining the impact of COVID-19 on cities generally and Houston in particular; how cities are responding to the crisis; and how cities are likely to change as a result of the pandemic.
The Kinder Institute will expand its “Disaster Recovery Tracker” (currently in development) to include COVID-19. The Disaster Recovery tracker was originally designed to follow Hurricane Harvey recovery money. For COVID-19, it will track public and philanthropic dollars invested as a result of the issue in Houston and also track the impact of investments and policy changes made as a result of the pandemic.
The Kinder Institute for Urban Research and the Children’s Environmental Health Initiative are using the technical backbone of the Texas Flood Registry, which was initiated after Hurricane Harvey, to launch a COVID-19 registry. The new registry, created in collaboration with local health departments, tracks the spread and impact of COVID-19, as well as uptake of suppression measures across geography and in real time. Health departments will use the registry to anticipate and respond to the rapidly evolving challenges posed by COVID-19.
Finally, the Kinder Institute will incorporate the fallout from COVID-19 into ongoing research and policy reports about the Houston area. For example, our analysis of the revenue structure of the Cities of Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio, which will be released later this spring, will now incorporate projected revenue declines from COVID-19. Our first-ever State of Houston Housing report, scheduled for release in June, will now incorporate the impact of COVID-19 on the housing market.