CECREH Students Complete Internship with Texas Housers

Summer 2025

During Summer 2025, CECREH doctoral researchers Amin Sobhani and Nadar Shah participated in a community-based internship designed and supported by CECREH and led by Texas Housers, a leading housing advocacy organization in Texas. This program emphasized community-driven strategies to improve housing outcomes in disaster-affected areas and advocate for more equitable CDBG-DR investments.

Students contributed to ongoing efforts that resulted in the allocation of $100 million in disaster recovery housing funds. Their work involved analyzing the performance of city and state homeowner assistance programs with a focus on construction quality, program oversight, and resident access to resolution mechanisms when issues arise.

The internship also included collaboration with the HUD Center of Excellence for Hispanic Housing Studies (CoHHS) at Texas A&M University. This partnership enabled students to engage directly with community organizations and to co-develop funding proposals in support of long-term housing advocacy and research-driven action.

Internship activities helped build local capacity by educating homeowners about construction standards and program guidelines, assisting them with documentation, and empowering them to identify and report construction deficiencies. These grassroots efforts aim to enhance housing program transparency and promote accountability across disaster recovery systems.