TIRZ (these are not just in Houston; I saw it on Ft Worth’s website too and I didn’t look elsewhere)

I am curious about TIRZ. Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone. What is it and why do we have it? Here’s my first steps in figuring it out.

I looked through the financial statements (naturally, 40 years of accounting experience, that’s where I start) of three Houston TIRZ units:  Heights, Montrose and Upper Kirby.  I chose them because they are near me and I figured I’d recognize the projects they supposedly do.  Basically, a TIRZ is a specific area within the City that gets to keep a lot of its tax revenue for projects within the geographical area of the TIRZ.  The street and drainage improvements along North Shepherd and the elaborate upgrades to Levy Park were paid for by TIRZ. The Montrose TIRZ budgeted $2.4 million for affordable housing; they haven’t spent any of that.

Here’s a link to them on the City’s website:  https://www.houstontx.gov/ecodev/tirz_info.html

The whole concept seems unfair:  areas that already have relatively high tax revenue because they are destination areas get to keep a portion of their taxes, and areas that have been historically underserved and have a smaller tax base, they don’t have a TIRZ because they can’t be sure (a) there’s enough tax revenue (b) an investment in the community will increase tax revenue.   https://abc13.com/post/houstons-tax-increment-investment-zones-favor-wealthy-parts-city-study-rice-says/15548883/  In case you read this article, in June 2025 I contacted the City Council Member over the area of Uptown Park to ask where the $264 million of affordable housing are; as of December 29, 2025, I have not received a response.

However, when TIRZ revenue is spun off from the City to the TIRZ, that sorta helps the City because the state legislature has capped the revenue a city can receive.  

I will have more about TIRZ later.  I have a lot of questions about this.