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 largest affordability gaps are in California, Hawaii, Idaho, Massachusetts and Montana, where middle-income households can afford fewer than 12 percent of houses on the market. By contrast, they could afford about half the houses for sale in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio and West Virginia.
Richmond and other cities are looking to amend zoning codes for new housing and business developments, hoping that looser parking requirements will allow greater investment in housing, retail and greenspace.
In light of last winter’s week-long freeze, which took out many city services, Austin’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management released 132 recommendations on how the city should prepare for future disasters.
Collinwood is a microcosm of Cleveland’s majority Black neighborhoods, where years of racism, predatory lending, gun violence and falling property values have left few options for stability and growth.
The multibillion-dollar plan would scale back the version previously proposed by disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, reducing the size and density of surrounding development. The updated station would also receive a new name.
The Purple Line, formerly the Rush Line, would run from St. Paul to White Bear Lake, and would service 21 local stations. Despite growing opposition to the $475 million project, it’s unclear if it will be enough to stop the development.
A robust, nature-rich and welcoming public realm of parks, streetscapes and civic facilities has an array of social benefits for disadvantaged communities.
Colorado is now one of eight states that allow local governments to pass gun ordinances that are tighter than state restrictions. Lawmakers in other states are looking to follow Colorado and repeal their own preemption laws.
Mayor Jenny Durkan announced an executive order that will expand the existing free transportation program for public school students and calls for incentives for electric vehicles and pedestrian travel.
The city spent hundreds of hours and $130,000 on contracting services with FLO Analytics before eventually abandoning it for a free, easy-to-use app to draft the redistricting maps. Many of the committee members are unhappy with the wasted time and money.
The Boring Company has proposed to build a pair of tunnels that would shuttle riders to the city’s beachfront in self-driving Teslas. But there are still cost and environmental concerns that need to be resolved before approval.
The city of Lansing, Mich., modernized the process of marijuana business licensing through a new online records management system. The changes have simplified the process for city staff and end users.
When Jesus Garza first moved to Arcola, Ill., he didn’t speak any English and now he’s mayor of the predominantly white, conservative town. His election represents a disconnect between local community and national politics.
With 34.4 percent of its households lacking a broadband connection, Harlingen is one of the worst connected cities in the nation. The broadband expansion project will begin next year, but the service won’t be free.
To combat threats of rising sea levels, officials have decided to raise roads to protect existing infrastructure. But some homeowners claim the elevated roads sent floodwaters into their property, making them unrentable.
Dense, often dilapidated neighborhoods were routes to prosperity for an earlier generation of low-income urbanites. Their destruction has hurt us all.
The state’s experiment with decriminalizing hard drugs has connected few people with treatment options. But officials urge patience for results as COVID-19 may have impacted participation so far.
It’s gospel among economists that regulating rents is a bad idea. But there’s evidence that the burdens it imposes might be an acceptable price for society to pay.
Small cities can offer equal or better qualities of life than large cities for many people and the pandemic only further reinforced that trend. A report evaluates 1,322 of America’s small cities to determine which ones are best.
The sanctioned tent encampment for roughly 60 homeless seniors will have bathrooms, showers, security, food, water and potentially dental services. The goal is to find permanent housing for the residents before 90 days.
Improving public transit, whether it’s for subways, buses, light rail or trolleys, is very tricky. But some enhancements turn out to be surprisingly simple. Here’s what we can learn from one of the best transit systems.
A proposed 25-mile bike path that would stretch from Portland to Auburn using a retired railway has run into complications as transit officials are working to draft a new agreement with the rail company.
Critics of the smart city movement raise some valid concerns that local officials should pay attention to, but it’s not a case for antiquated municipal systems and procedures.
State transit officials look to invest in transportation infrastructure to assist economic development and a growing population, including more than $400 million for various transportation projects in Cobb County.
The nine-member panel was created a year ago to study reparations for Black residents but is still grappling with who should qualify and what the compensation will look like. The council has until 2022 to report their findings.
Despite having less bike infrastructure than other neighborhoods, Chicago police issued citations for biking on the sidewalk eight and three times more often in Black and Latino neighborhoods, respectively.
The state is one of 33 across the nation in which a driver’s license may be suspended if you cannot pay traffic-related fines or fees. Research shows that this disproportionately impacts vulnerable populations.
The partnership will develop strategies and landing pads in preparation for future electric oversized drone technologies. But some argue that the city’s resources would be better spent on existing transportation infrastructure.
The Central Ohio Transit Authority will stop running diesel-powered buses by 2025 and will implement eight more electric buses next summer. There are approximately 700 electric transit vehicles currently operating in the U.S.
A two-person kidnapping situation reinforced the need for Tucson to develop a co-response model in which mental health professionals and 911 dispatchers would be able to share information and respond to incidents together.
Many small businesses rely on social media to develop their community of customers and a five-hour outage across Facebook’s sites can be detrimental. It is unclear what caused the global outage on Monday.
