Housing and Urban Issues
Stresses on urban communities continue to affect housing, food security, child services, homelessness, business development and crime. Coverage includes stories about new solutions to how cities are run, how they develop as urban centers and about the people who live there.
New estimates show migration patterns favoring less densely populated areas, while most U.S. counties experience slowing growth.
Left-leaning mayoral winners are getting a lot of attention, but in a few cities business-friendly moderates are showing strength.
The most powerful climate policy in America isn’t in Washington. It’s buried in your town’s zoning code.
A new analysis finds a proposed statewide rent cap could reduce property values and erode local tax revenue.
With 17 percent of office space vacant and remote work reshaping demand, developers are pivoting toward residential construction that could help ease the region’s housing shortage.
Deaths dropped 10 percent but the mortality rate remains far higher than for the general population.
Homeowners in major metros are holding onto properties for longer periods, with Los Angeles topping 20 years and state tax laws helping discourage moves.
The U.S. House and Senate have both voted for a package of changes to federal housing programs, with broad backing from cities and states. A final bill could get a vote this week.
Eric Adams’ failed reform bid is a warning sign for the new mayor attempting to take on one of the city’s most persistent problems.
Between 2023 and 2025, the city cleared encampments and quickly built new shelters. It reduced the unsheltered homeless population by 45 percent, even as the total number of homeless people in Denver has increased.
State support is encouraging homeowners to invest in energy efficiency and construction designed to reduce future risk.
The Bloomberg Philanthropies award will fund up to 300 apartments, with city officials expecting sharply lower utility costs for residents.
Updating outdated titling laws may expand low-cost financing for one of the nation’s most affordable housing types.
As red states build far more homes, New York’s stagnating housing production risks population stagnation and a projected loss of two U.S. House seats and Electoral College votes.
Eddie Melton, the mayor of Gary, Ind., has worked to attract new investment while promoting the narrative of a comeback. It’s got a long way to come back.
The circumstances have to be right, and real urban change agents know not to promise the impossible.
Outdated assessment systems are opaque and structurally biased, leading to “data rot.” Local governments should invest in tools that make it easier for taxpayers to understand how their property is valued.
Ranking near dead last among major cities, the city is launching a public-private Housing Gateway program aimed at coordinating services and moving people into housing faster.
New eviction data underscores the state’s housing crisis, as a school board member’s case shows how quickly tenants can be displaced amid scarce affordable housing.
Despite fears they’d shift Idaho left, newcomers from California are reinforcing the state’s conservative tilt.
Legislators aim to reward localities that ease land-use barriers and expand housing supply amid a statewide shortage.
Whether they come from abroad or elsewhere in the U.S., they are reshaping communities in profound ways. That’s not likely to change.
Sixty-five people from a long-standing encampment have been placed in stable housing, and outreach efforts are expanding under a structured rapid-rehousing strategy.
State officials say federal agents violated Minnesota law, blocked investigators and left a crime scene unsecured, deepening a rift with the Trump administration.
How people feel about where they live is an overlooked factor in engaging them in civic life. There are ways to boost those feelings.
Public officials can make the greatest difference when they focus on their communities’ housing, transportation and utility costs.
It’s important to give renters a stronger voice. And we need to make big bets on new ways to build.
A century of increasingly restrictive zoning has priced out lower-cost housing, and new limits on how homes are used risk deepening the affordability crisis.
Atlanta’s decision to reinvest in it and bring a full-scale program back on the air should be a national model. It’s especially needed in today’s radically reshaped media environment.
Homeowners' associations do plenty of beneficial things. But sometimes they go too far, testing the tension between individual and community rights and leading to states’ efforts to restrict their powers.
Rather than acting as substitute police, guard medics could help save lives by backing up strained local emergency responders. It’s not unprecedented.
