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.
Median home values have risen 60 percent since 2012, yet the city has 20,000 fewer housing units than before the storm, with nearly 29,000 still vacant.
City and county programs now offer $500 monthly to vulnerable tenants plus support services, but only 740 are served — far below the 1,425 goal. More funding is needed to avert displacement.
The city spends more than $500,000 a year on ShotSpotter, plus millions in labor costs, but data show few arrests or firearms recovered.
Cities and states scrambled to house homeless people in hotels and motels during the emergency phase of the pandemic. Many communities still find it’s a good model.
More than 300 residents are being relocated because of public safety concerns and plans to restore Columbus Park for recreation.
Statewide filings rose 12 percent in July, with the Las Vegas metro placing third nationally in foreclosure rates.
The closure of the department’s DEI office and cuts to federal diversity programs could stall hiring progress for years.
A 2024 state law aimed to double accessory dwelling units, but Honolulu has added only 1,320, about half the anticipated pace. Residents cite permitting delays, sewer constraints and construction burdens.
After 30 years patrolling the city’s toughest neighborhoods, Louie Wong now leads the San Francisco Police Officers Association with promises to pursue better pay and earlier retirement benefits.
Invoking the 1973 Home Rule Act, the president put MPD under federal control, activated National Guard troops and vowed to “take our capital back.”
Cities like Holyoke, Springfield and Fitchburg struggle to attract developers amid weak housing markets and costly environmental cleanup.
There’s much to applaud in the ways Columbia now celebrates its Black heritage. But too much of that celebration is limited to Black residents.
With killings down by more than half from the 2021 peak, officials say progress is real but fragile, and deep-seated social issues remain unresolved.
The park in Portland, Ore., takes up little space but has a whimsical history.
The fallout from a strike by prison guards continues to paralyze prisons, forcing officials to suspend programs and rely on emergency deployments.
A new report shows homicides fell 17 percent in early 2025, but experts caution the trend is concentrated in a few major cities and not yet clearly linked to specific policy changes.
While U.S. housing stock is up 29 percent, Las Vegas stands out as the epicenter of the trend, with listings soaring 77 percent across the metro area.
Beaverton, Ore., is looking for new ways to support cooperative housing development for senior residents. It’s among 50 finalist cities in the Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Challenge.
Urban Democrats and state-level Republicans have long been at odds. Could what’s happening in Charlotte signal a ceasefire?
Downtowns have always evolved. A look at history shows they’ll never go away.
The landmark environmental bill, CEQA, has been credited with preventing irreversible damage to natural habitats. But it’s also provided an avenue for resistant neighbors to block new housing in urban areas.
Self-government and local control are in jeopardy as never before. Diversity initiatives are engines of equal opportunity, offering a direct return on public investment.
The growth of cities between San Antonio and Austin, separated by 75 miles, is creating one massive metro region.
The notion of controlling development and limiting suburban sprawl is finding some traction in pockets of the Sun Belt and West. You might be surprised at what’s been happening in Montana.
A 2018 housing bond in the Portland region has helped produce more units than it initially promised to voters. But the region’s affordability and homelessness problems are still worsening.
Since 2018, state spending on hotels for unsheltered individuals has tripled. Conditions are often inadequate and some worry homeless people are isolated and unable to access other support services.
Forty-one percent of unsheltered seniors were never homeless before age 50. Finding them all homes will be difficult but helps focus outreach efforts.
State lawmakers have passed dozens of bills aimed at promoting housing supply and affordability this year, with significant proposals awaiting final approval in Texas and California.
Chicago’s mayor has an ambitious plan to make the city an active partner in getting more housing built. It’s the way things used to work — and still do in some other countries.
Cities are banning landlords from setting rental prices based on algorithms and non-public data, which tenants complain have led to drastic spikes.
As part of the city’s new $7 billion budget, the City Council approved bonding authority for Mayor Cherelle Parker's plan to create or preserve 30,000 housing units.
