Editorial: Build on Houston s affordable housing successes. Don t take away the tools.
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To understand just how welcome the new luxury apartment complex is that’s rising at
the corner of West Dallas and Montrose, recall the fire that consumed the $50 million development at that site in 2014.
Seconds before the five-story structure collapsed in flames, a construction worker stuck on the top floor swung himself like
Spider-Man down to a lower balcony and then leapt off the railing into the arms of a waiting firefighter.
A welder’s torch had apparently sparked the fire, but the dramatic scene captured on video of the dangling worker and the smoking wreckage begged for interpretation as a symbol for Houston’s explosive boom and bust cycle. For years, Houston had ridden high on oil and gas while the rest of America was mired in the hangover from the 2008 Great Recession. Across Houston, aging garden apartments came down fast to make way for luxury towers