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.
A survey shows that more than half of manufactured homeowners on rented land have no lease.
Research from the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission found that rezoning transit corridors in and around Cleveland would encourage dense, walkable development, which could add population and rebuild the tax base.
More than 300,000 people moved out of California in 2022, resulting in an overall population decline for the third year in a row. A survey found that 64 percent of adult residents said housing affordability was “a big problem.”
A 2017 study found that 61 percent of workers commute into Muscatine County, Iowa, daily because they were unable to afford closer housing. Using reinforced concrete and large-scale 3-D printing may be a solution.
Only 59 percent of homeless students in Washington state graduate from high school in four years. But North Thurston Public Schools has their more than 600 homeless students graduating at nearly the same rate as their peers.
If pay simply kept pace with inflation since the most recent raise in 1988, state senators would now make more than $30,000. Experts say that increasing pay could help diversify the Legislature, making it more like the people they represent.
The city's Red Line project was canceled by Gov. Larry Hogan in 2015 after 12 years of planning. As Hogan leaves office, the project may be back. But advocates still want to change the way transit decisions are made.
Advocates claim that, to reach New York’s goal of a zero-emission electricity grid by 2040, there must be a push to electrify all new buildings across the state starting in 2024.
In the 19th century, Americans sought a more sentimental way to honor their dead. The unintended result was a rise in green spaces within urban areas, as well as the creation of the first suburbs.
Connecticut’s Communities Challenge Grant program will award eight grants to communities across the state to help fund revitalization projects in an effort to spur job growth. Half of the funds will go to “distressed” communities.
Its popularity is growing so fast that cities need to scramble to keep up with demand for facilities and to take advantage of its economic potential. They also will have to consider its racial and class implications.
Some Global South cities are using escalators and cable cars to connect their hill slums with city centers, showcasing how imaginative infrastructure can improve life for residents in isolated areas.
For the first time in the state’s upper house 245-year history, the six freshman legislators are all women. One of the women, Iwen Chu, will also be the first Asian American woman to hold a Senate seat.
You can make the case that it is, and not just in size. Every city is distinctive in some way, but nothing comes close to New York in the breadth and depth of its demographics, neighborhoods and culture.
COVID-19 created a host of issues for the waste industry that have only been worsened by rising inflation and a labor market shortage, which continue to increase costs for cities and counties.
Administrators of Bath Township, Ohio, aren’t sure why the 2020 Census reported a 40 percent decline in population as compared to the 2010 report. Officials suspect the loss is a data glitch; surrounding communities have been shrinking.
A pilot program has gradually amassed more than $100 million in Federal Transit Administration grants, which are laying the groundwork for land use projects that promote mobility and affordability.
A study from the Economic Roundtable found that without the pandemic-induced eviction moratoriums, unemployment insurance boosts and stimulus payments, the county’s homelessness would have climbed to 23 percent.
The City Council has unanimously approved the task force, which would research the history and the effects of slavery in Boston and then assess and advise the city on next steps. The mayor must sign off for it to become law.
A trash truck or a streetlight has a basic function, but in a digital age they can be so much more, adding value outside of their core purposes.
Republican State House Rep. Jared Patterson has introduced a bill that would block residents under the age of 18 from creating a profile on social media sites, citing mental health and self-harm concerns.
After years of construction problems, safety issues and the pandemic, the last section of a 23-mile commuter rail project is complete, connecting the region's international airport and outer suburbs with Washington.
An analysis of nearly 92,000 Road Home grants statewide found that the program to help homeowners rebuild after hurricanes Katrina and Rita gave more funding to wealthier neighborhoods than low-income ones.
Metro Transit just opened the fifth bus rapid transit line in the Twin Cities. Advocates are hoping for many more.
New analysis found that 69 counties that had clear racial majorities in 2010 lost those divisions by last year; now there are 152 counties in which no single racial group is more than half the population.
For nearly a year, 2,000 families in Chelsea received $400 a month in support. More than 73 percent of the funds were spent “at places where food is the primary product.” A second round of the program will begin in January.
The old buildings that housed multiple sellers under a single roof were more than just places to shop. They were community-making institutions.
Some public-sector agencies have a flair when it comes to using Twitter. From states and cities to special districts and public safety, here's a nonexhaustive look at a few of our favorites.
A 260-mile corridor between Syracuse and Montreal has been approved by a consortium of international organizers in an effort to establish an “advanced air mobility” corridor for unmanned commercial cargo transport.
The law, which capped rent increases and laid out terms by which certain landlords could evict tenants, was enacted by the City Council last year in an attempt to enact eviction protections to prevent homelessness.
Black lawmakers started getting elected to the state Legislature in the 1960s, but the General Assembly has been mostly composed of white lawmakers. Next year, at least 83 of the 236 members will be nonwhite.
