Affordable housing! Houstonians’ concerns are changing.

Houston had a prophet. He spoke to everyone who would listen, from corporate retreats to humble neighborhood associations, delivering his message in sentences that, as a Chronicle columnist observed, all ended with an exclamation point .

His message was simple: Houston was the real profit – or America’s “prophetic city,” as he called it in a book of the same name – and he was just the messenger. “Don’t blame me,” said Stephen Klineberg. The Rice University sociology professor, who retired in 2023, saw his mission as collecting the aspirations and fears of people in the Houston area and sharing them with the world. Our hyperdiverse population is what the rest of the country will look like in 2050, so this is “where the American future will take shape.”

Klineberg’s annual survey of the Houston area, the oldest survey of its kind, continued without him and was released Monday for the 43rd time by the Kinder Institute at Rice. So what does the oracle of oracles – our own people – say to the world this time?

Fundamentally, we remain optimistic, but our collective voice is sounding an increasingly urgent warning.

First, the rent is too high. It’s the fastest growing concern when respondents are asked about the “biggest problems” facing the Houston area. Crime was the main concern for about one in four people, but that’s far less than 30 years ago, when it was three in four. What’s more telling, however, is that until 2021, “housing affordability” wasn’t even a category of its own for researchers examining the data. It is now the second most important problem, cited by 22%, including landlords and tenants.

Another significant change: In 1995, according to the survey, 60 percent of Harris County residents believed welfare recipients were taking advantage of the system. Today, more than half say recipients really need help.

Are these changing attitudes on issues like welfare and crime simply a sign that the Houston area has become more liberal? This is certainly an explanation. In 2005, Republicans, Democrats and independents made up an equal third of the population. Since then, the latter two have increased, while the Republican share has fallen to 18%. We doubt, however, that the changes observed in the survey are all related to partisan politics.

Consider this staggering number: 70 percent of residents think public schools need “a lot more money.” In the 1990s, this figure was around 50%. This new supermajority transcends partisan affiliations, as school districts across the region make drastic cuts to their enrollments, even as more and more parents recognize that their children need a good education to thrive.

Another large majority: Nearly three-quarters of Houston-area residents think the region should “prioritize the development of technologies for the production of alternative energy sources” such as wind, solar and hydrogen . When Ruth López Turley, director of the Kinder Institute at Rice University, shared this finding during the official release of the survey, there was an audible murmur, even a collective gasp, from the audience in the room ballroom at the downtown Hilton Americas. This figure is remarkable, especially when the investigation bears the name of a family that made billions from fossil fuels. For liberals, the adoption of alternative fuels is likely aimed at reducing carbon emissions, while for business-minded conservatives, the focus might be on taking advantage of an inevitable energy transition.

Time and time again, the survey reveals a strong consensus around creating an economy that works for everyone. Not surprisingly, the survey shows the percentage of residents who say they would need to borrow money to cover a $400 emergency is at its highest level ever, at 46 percent.

Meanwhile, Houston is becoming less religious as the number of people identifying as Christian has declined and the number of the unaffiliated has increased – an increase in the number of “non-religious”, not religious, as López Turley joked. Since the 2020 murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, there has been growing awareness that Black people and other minorities do not have the same opportunities as white people. A rock star finding that Klineberg would highlight every year, but which seems to be taken for granted in the new report: Houstonians view diversity as a strength. Duh, as children of all colors would say.

Taking all of this into account, we can’t help but notice the huge gap between what people in the Houston area believe and what our leaders in Austin are saying. They drown out the sirens with the constant din of their culture wars.

We called Stephen Klineberg, who moved to Virginia to be closer to his children. “Growing inequality is real,” he said, although a sense of optimism still resonated in his words. He recused himself from the investigation, but he believes Houstonians understand more than ever that we are important, that we have “a role to play in shaping America’s future.” Although the exact policies are unclear, the message our employees are sending is. Make the economy work for everyone.

We would get much closer to this reality if the same proportion of Houston’s diverse voices showed up to the polls and were heard.