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.
The post-pandemic pattern of rural growth continues, following years of decline. Two-thirds of the nation's rural growth is taking place in the South.
A hundred days into the job, Daniel Lurie has been aggressive about stepping up services and addressing downtown woes. He’s won over some critics but the city faces major challenges including a billion-dollar budget shortfall.
Atlanta is achieving notable success with its data-driven efforts to build and preserve housing, which the city sees as key to revitalizing distressed neighborhoods and confronting social challenges.
Philadelphia, San Francisco and Berkeley, Calif., have also banned algorithms that can lead to price-gouging, with similar proposals brewing in other major cities.
The administration is shifting resources away from Housing First, the long-established approach of getting individuals into supportive housing as the first priority.
San Antonio created a housing strategy that’s made it more affordable than most other large cities.
Residents of mobile-home parks have seen costs rise as investors buy up properties. Lawmakers in several states are looking to add more guardrails.
In a switch from its previous approach, the chamber has passed a series of bills that will reduce barriers to construction and limit localities’ ability to set limits.
HUD has warned local housing authorities that a $5 billion fund for emergency rental assistance is nearly out of cash, putting 60,000 households at risk of eviction.
A historian makes that argument in a new book. But maybe we just don’t want — or need — to move as much as we used to.
Mayor Matt Mahan said too many people are dying on the streets. His proposal would push people into services after they refuse shelter three times in 18 months.
An upsurge of corporate purchases of single-family homes has sparked legislation in at least half a dozen states this year. Legislators hope to preserve homeownership as a path to building wealth for middle-class families and limit the number of properties owned by large corporations.
The House and Senate are pursuing separate approaches that would offer greater relief either to homeowners or commercial properties.
A YIMBY group documents how the policies have had “limited or no impact.” But accessory dwelling units have been a success story: In one year alone, more than 28,000 of them got permits.
Sioux Falls is building a website to help connect residents with income-restricted housing. It hopes the tool will get people into housing faster and lower the vacancy rate among subsidized units.
Over the last decade, Wisconsin's largest county has made dramatic progress in reducing its homeless population.
A legal loophole in the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program is allowing developers to remove rent restrictions from affordable housing, leading to rising rents and worsening the housing crisis.
The consequences of sanctuary policies extend far beyond the ideological debate surrounding immigration enforcement. These policies enable criminal networks to make communities more dangerous.
Reported plans to cut staff in the Department of Housing and Urban Development, along with proposed budget cuts and the Trump administration’s funding freeze, have worried administrators of state and local housing programs.
If there's going to be a “Black mecca” for this rapidly growing sport, there's a good chance it will be Atlanta. But cities everywhere can benefit from this one small way to bring us together.
They just might be. They’re doing a lot of things that don’t have much to do with books but do have a lot to do with community. And you don’t hear “Shhh” much anymore.
In the wake of recent wildfires, L.A. officials are exploring a self-certification program for building permits to accelerate the reconstruction of homes, aiming to streamline bureaucracy and cut down on approval wait times.
Tools are available to not only count people experiencing homelessness more accurately but also to provide them with individualized services. More municipalities should use them.
Homelessness in Miami-Dade County has fallen to an 11-year low thanks to new shelters, a state law banning public sleeping, and other measures.
New Mexico stands out as an exception, leading to skyrocketing rents and home prices.
The city was already in the grip of an affordability crisis — last month’s massive fires just made everything worse. What can L.A. learn from other disaster recovery efforts?
Fremont is set to pass an anti-encampment ordinance. Its broad language could penalize nonprofit groups that provide services to homeless populations.
The Eaton Fire consumed a home and community I had loved for decades. I went from writing about homelessness to living it.
Cities across the country are committed to making it easier to build housing and are taking a variety of promising approaches, note the leaders of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. But they must be bolstered by federal investment and flexibility.
A 10-mile park running underneath a rail transit line in Miami-Dade County is expected to be complete next year. The county’s former transportation chief just signed on to lead a nonprofit supporting the project.
Homelessness rose last year by 18 percent, but much of the increase took place in a handful of states that had received lots of immigrants. Some experts say their increase during a HUD census inflated the actual numbers.
