The Problem:

 Everyone is well aware that Houston has an overwhelming number of homeless pets. You see them on the side of the road all the time. Everyone knows someone who has given up at least one pet, and someone else who has a house full of rescues. There are dozens upon dozens of animal shelters and rescue groups in the greater Houston area (with thousands of fosters), and all of them are bursting at the seams with lost, stray, and surrendered animals. Hundreds of perfectly healthy animals are killed (they like the words "put down") every single day, because they simply have no where to go.
Meanwhile, on sites such as craigslist, animals are listed every few minutes for sale. Everyone loves puppies and kittens, so why not breed you pet so you can play with the little ones, then sell them once they grow up? Of course, Houston's favorite breed is the Pit Bull - banned from every apartment complex, but sought after for illegal dog fighting. Most of these dogs will not live into their old age, just because of the name.
A lot of pets are simply put out. If they no longer fit their owner's lifestyle, or they are "bad", the owner is moving, or the "new" wore off, people are just dropping their dogs off in other neighborhoods. Even worse, some people have thrown their pets out of moving cars or left them in the yard when they move. This is unconscionable!

 
The Solution:

 Short term: Thousands of Houston residents are already doing their absolute best to help these animals. They are opening their homes, donating to shelters, and rescuing animals from the street.

BARC has teamed up with RPM to ship off unwanted animals to states such as Colorado, where there is not such an overwhelming number of abandoned animals. This is great! Most of the animals shipped out would otherwise be euthanized, so this is saving a lot of lives. Keep up the good work! Unfortunately, this does not solve the problem.

 Long term: I propose that the City of Houston step up to the plate and relieve this dire situation in our city by proposing new laws and actively enforcing the ones we have. Over the next few years, we should see a dramatic difference. I suggest this 3-prong approach.

Accountable Pet Ownership
1) It should be absolutely mandatory for animals to be microchipped, with up to date registration. This can be enforced by requiring veterinary offices to scan for proper identification prior to servicing any non-life threatening admission. If the animal is not microchipped, then they should require it or report it. ** This makes pet owners responsible and liable for their actions, and will be addressed later. ** An up-to-date city-wide registry should be available to the public in order to return found/stolen animals.

Stop the exponential growth
2) Require that dog breeders be licensed with the city, and they should be required to update that license, for a fee, annually. The license should limit the number of litters produced annually based on the number of breeding females that year. It should also require that breeders ensure that all of their animals be microchipped prior to adoption.

3) Outlaw the sales of animals coming from un-licensed breeders. This includes breeders who produce more than the allowed number of annual litters - ie. puppy mills. This can be enforced with penalty fines or seizure of animals, depending on the severity of the case. Selling is different from rehoming costs. Rehoming costs should be justified with receipts for expenses incurred less than 30 days from the time of adoption. (veterinary expenses and medication).

4) Provide incentives for people to spay/neuter their pets. This can be possible if funds (from penalty fines and breeder fees) could be allocated to offer low cost/free spay and neuter programs. (These exist currently, but could be more common anyways). Mandatory spay/neuter would be ideal, except that there is no way to enforce this.

Prosecute Animal Abusers

5) Abandonment of an animal should be illegal! There are many sources where a person can surrender their family pet - shelters and rescue groups. People that abandon their animal, either on the road, park, or simply left behind, should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. This is death sentence for many animals, puts an unnecessary burden on local animal shelters and fosters, and should be considered animal abuse. If all pets are required to be microchipped, then the owners can be found and held accountable.

6) Dog fighting happens all over the city. There are many people that adopt dogs to simply throw them in a fighting ring, breed them to make more "fighters", or use them to "train" their fighting dogs. Set a small task force to find these people, and prosecute them! They have it too easy, and no one is really making an effort to stop them.

In closing:

Please help the thousands of people (voters and taxpayers) to put a stop to the exponential growth of stray and homeless pets in our city. Everyone is doing their absolute best. A quick google search will show you how overwhelming this problem is. With a small amount of effort from you, many lives can be saved, and many people will be grateful.