She was born in Inglewood, California in 1934, attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School, and graduated from San Jose State University. She studied sociology and journalism.

In her book Farewell to Manzanar (1973), Houston writes about her family's experiences at Manzanar, an internment camp in California's Owens Valley where Japanese Americans were imprisoned during World War II. The novel was adapted in to a television movie in 1976, starring Nobu McCarthy, who portrayed both Houston as well as her mother in the film.

In an effort to educate Californians about the experiences of Japanese Americans who were imprisoned during World War II, the book and the movie were distributed in 2002 as a part of kit to approximately 8,500 public elementary and secondary schools and 1,500 public libraries in California. The kit also included study guides tailored to the book, and a video teaching guide.

Other publications include Don't Cry, It's Only Thunder (1984) with Paul G. Hensler as a co-author, and Beyond Manzanar and Other Views of Asian-American Womanhood (1985).