Dive Brief:
- Houston City College system leaders are calling for deeper investment in deferred maintenance so the institution can keep on top of roughly 450 needed repairs and upgrades worth just under $80 million in additional spending.
- While facilities across the public institutions remain in good condition, deferred maintenance needs significantly outpace annual funding levels, according to a report leaders plan to present during a Wednesday board meeting.
- With $52 million in funding, HHC could work through nearly 360 projects — all ranked in priority — in its backlog, the leaders said. Fixes include HVAC, structural and elevator repairs; window and carpet replacement; and new fire pumps and security alarms.
Dive Insight:
In their report, the senior HCC leaders — Chancellor Margaret Fisher, Vice Chancellor for Administration and Operations Robert McCracken and Associate Vice Chancellor for Facilities Management James Walker III — painted a picture of well-running facilities and operations that still needed additional investment for the institution to keep up with the maintenance backlog across its 19 campuses.
Planned maintenance at the college has increased while unplanned fixes have decreased, a positive sign. However, spending on surprise, must-fix issues still outpaces the college’s target as aging systems generate unexpected issues.
Those exigent repairs tend to be more expensive and “can negatively impact instruction, student experience, and building asset value,” the leaders said.
Without sustained investment, the system’s facilities could deteriorate from a “good” to “average” rating by 2030, according to the report.
Since 2020, HHC has spent $107 million on deferred maintenance. The system finished assessing its backlog of projects in January, and the board approved a $15 million fiscal 2027 budget for deferred maintenance in June.
That's short of the $22 million HCC leaders say could knock out its top 90 priority maintenance projects. With $42 million, the system could tackle a total 241 projects, a little over half its deficiency list.
HCC is by no means alone with its large, multimillion dollar backlog of needed repairs. Colleges' deferred capital projects — including major upgrades such as new roofs — reached $156 per gross square foot in 2025, an 8% year-over-year increase and nearly double 2007 levels, according to building intelligence firm Gordian’s latest report.
In 2024, Moody’s Ratings found that the roughly 500 institutions it rated face up to nearly $1 trillion “hidden liability” in physical capital needs over the next decade.
