Investigative Writing: No Place to Call Home article series

No Place to Call Home

By Kareyn Hellmann

An investigative series conducted during the summer of 2021, No Place to Call Home addresses the lack of affordable housing available in Lamar County and the city of Paris, Texas. Featuring a plethora of related voices, including government, non-profit, rental and construction leaders, the series was published during the first week in August 2021. 

Following the series, I led and established the forum to formulate solutions and spark awareness for the issues of affordable housing in the community. Though United Way director Jenny Wilson assisted in managing hosting capacities, I gathered panel members and wrote publication materials advertising the event. 

Following the series and forum, housing construction policies were changed at a local level and new programs were established to incentivize affordable housing construction. State representative Gary VanDeaver also began to discuss skyrocketing property tax rates at the state level in Austin. 

Part One: No Place to Call Home: Need for affordable housing in Paris appears to be at crisis point
https://theparisnews.com/news/article_bb39ee12-f248-11eb-a404-f3d3e31d4c18.html

Part Two: No Place to Call Home: Local wages not keeping pace with rising area rents
https://theparisnews.com/news/article_328e1c52-f471-11eb-9126-eb3d7e7916db.html

Part Three: No Place to Call Home: Paris is 1,000 doors short, so why are builders leaving?

https://theparisnews.com/news/article_9214362a-f60b-11eb-9995-f71d7d47d059.html