Kinder Institute survey: Houston residents report widespread storm impacts, mixed confidence in recovery

Dr. Dan Potter, director of the Houston Population Research Center at the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University, told the Resilience Committee that a rolling survey of more than 10,000 Houston-area residents found broad concern about climate change and extensive personal and neighborhood impacts from 2024 severe-weather events.

The Kinder Institute’s Greater Houston Community Panel tracked residents across Houston, Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties and asked about preparation, immediate impacts and early recovery after storms in 2024. “60% of Houston area residents are worried about the impacts of climate change,” Potter said, and he summarized several findings about preparation, health, finances and community response.

Why it matters: The survey ties residents’ perceptions and experiences to measurable outcomes — power loss, food spoilage, lost work and mental-health impacts — that city and county planners use when prioritizing preparedness, recovery resources and community supports.

Potter told the committee the panel is longitudinal, administered in English and Spanish (with plans to add Mandarin, Vietnamese and Arabic), and uses an address-based sample to follow the same respondents over time. Key findings Potter highlighted include: on average residents experienced four direct storm-related impacts in 2024; only 3% reported zero direct effects; more than nine in 10 residents lost electricity for at least four hours during 2024 storms and four in 10 lost power for four or more days; nearly eight in 10 residents reported throwing away food because of prolonged outages, with the most common valuation between $100 and $249 and more than half of those reporting losses above $250.

The survey also recorded nonphysical harms. Potter said “6 in 10 residents reported that their sleep was impacted” and that 36% reported worsened mental health following 2024 events. On household economics, Potter said “over half of Houston area workers lost wages due to the severe weather events.”

Residents reported differing levels of confidence in recovery depending on scale: Potter said more than 70% were very confident their household would recover from Hurricane Beryl, about 62% felt the same about their neighborhood, and roughly 40% were very or extremely confident the greater Houston area would fully recover. Confidence declined when respondents were asked about the prospect of an additional storm: fewer than half felt very or extremely confident their household could recover from another storm in the same year. Potter emphasized that recovery timelines varied substantially by income: about one-third of households making less than $25,000 had not bounced back two weeks after Hurricane Beryl, compared with about one in 10 households making more than $100,000.

Committee members asked about survey design and follow-up. Potter described the address-based sampling and oversampling of areas with larger nonwhite populations to ensure representativeness. He said the panel administers surveys three to five times annually and that researchers use incentives to sustain response. Potter confirmed the survey did not explicitly ask about homeowners insurance in the sessions reported to the committee, but he told members that insurance affordability and availability are a rising concern for housing stability and warrant further study.

Committee directions and next steps recorded during the meeting included staff interest in sharing survey findings more broadly and exploring partnerships to expand response coverage — ideas mentioned included outreach through 311, cell providers or media partners to increase participation among underrepresented groups. Potter made his contact information available and directed committee members to the Institute’s online materials at kinder.rice.edu for full reports and methods documentation.

A copy of the Kinder Institute’s slides and the underlying survey methodology are available on the Institute’s website; Potter invited follow-up questions and said the team will continue tracking attitudes and impacts as recovery and future storms unfold.