HOUSTON – The number of homicides in Houston this year are now the highest they have been in at least 15 years. Even more disturbing is that Houston added 31 homicides just in the past two weeks – Nov. 21 to Dec. 4. Gamaldi said on Nov. 10 that if the city reaches 400 homicides this year, that would be the highest since the 1980s. “Because we know, historically, when you increase your footprint in an area, violent crime goes down,” Acevedo said. Additionally, the clearance rate of homicides, meaning the number of cases where an arrest has been made, is lower than last year.