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.
As traditional development slows, accessory dwelling units now represent 30–45 percent of new permits and more than half of the affordable homes in unincorporated areas.
As voters stay home to avoid COVID-19 risks, the amount of absentee ballots has greatly increased. But election clerks must also prepare in-person precautions for the Tuesday primary. “You have to be prepared for the unknown.”
The city’s school district superintendent has pledged Internet connections for thousands of students by September. The current plan will continue virtual learning at least through Nov. 17.
Voter-mobilization groups are utilizing the pandemic and the protests following the death of George Floyd to encourage voter registration, and it’s working. In June, one nonprofit registered nearly 15,000 new voters.
In New Mexico’s deaf schools, e-learning loses the immersive environment that helps students learn American Sign Language. But even for in-person lessons, masks hide many of the facial expressions that ASL relies on.
Private investors want to build bullet trains across America, but in too many cases they're having trouble finding right-of-way. There's a lot that state and local governments could do to help them along.
SEPTA has required face coverings since June, but many riders aren’t adhering to the rule. Many are discouraged by the lack of masks and are opting for other forms of transportation. “I’m not jumping back on there for a while.”
San Diego officials are using the coronavirus pandemic to accelerate its plans of becoming a ‘city of the future’ by having more people work from home, utilizing more technology and streamlining how the city serves its public.
Public transit has severely suffered during this period of social distancing, but experts believe that riders will return because rides are cheap and not everyone who needs transportation can afford a car.
They've been trying for a long time to attract city dwellers by installing amenities that urbanites crave. COVID-19 fears are providing them with a new opportunity to get it right.
Attorneys across the state have expressed their worries over the Garden State’s decision to use virtual grand juries amid the pandemic. “The sanctimony of the criminal justice system is under attack.”
Last year, San Diego pushed back against the streetlight cameras the city had installed with concerns about privacy. Now, the city has proposed ordinances for governing current and future surveillance technology.
The coronavirus pandemic has emphasized how much of Pennsylvania still lacks access to high-speed Internet. Lawmakers are making broadband access a priority and view it as an investment in the state’s well-being.
Even with the coronavirus still at large across the nation, workers continue to encourage participation in the Census. Mask-wearing, social-distance-practicing enumerators will begin surveying in Tacoma by July 23.
Over a long career, Eugene Jones Jr. has led several big-city public-housing agencies. In an interview, he discusses the federal landscape, affordable housing and political accountability.
For some towns in Maine, the only sources of Wi-Fi are the library and school. But once businesses and schools shut down to stop the spread of COVID-19, many residents were without any Internet connection.
The U.S. senator proposed legislation to invest $100 billion in high-speed broadband implementation in communities nationwide. The bill would benefit her home state, Minnesota, where 140,000 households lack connection.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot is looking past the immediate health and economic challenges to map out programs for the city's future. She has ambitious ideas about attracting wealth while also addressing racial inequities.
A scholar who's been studying the place for half a century thinks so, and it does seem to be ahead of other cities in some respects. But there also are some ways it's behind the curve.
More than 30 percent of students in Columbus, Ohio, don’t have access to broadband. But even if they have access, they may not have the tech literacy to use it, which concerns educators as the school year approaches.
Plume is the first telehealth company that is dedicated to the health of the trans community. The app offers a staff that is almost entirely trans and allows patients to communicate through text or video-chat.
For families that are high-risk for COVID-19, Arizona’s rising case numbers are cause for concern. At the same time, some medical practices are reducing the availability of telehealth as soon as the end of June.
It's transforming the worlds of real estate and development. Cities and counties can experiment with it for themselves, but their most important role is in sharing the data that drives it.
Tampa, Fla.; Kansas City, Mo.; and Los Angeles are repurposing streets for business and pedestrian use during the coronavirus pandemic. So far, the programs have been well received, and may even survive past the pandemic.
A new examination of 100 U.S. metros during the nationwide stay-at-home orders shows that small changes to societal norms, like daily commutes, could have significant impacts for air quality.
Lawmakers are withdrawing their support from the high-speed rail project as many become skeptical of the plans and costs. “I personally have lost all confidence in this group to develop and deliver what they promised.”
In the 2010 Census, nearly 9 percent of minority groups were uncounted, resulting in lost funding for communities of color. But officials and advocates are determined to ensure that doesn’t happen in the count for 2020.
In 2016 Columbus, Ohio, won a national competition to become America’s Smart City. But four years and an extension later, the city still has several projects to complete before the upcoming 2021 deadline.
White blue-collar families and their racial fears defined the urban landscape of 50 years ago, as Black Americans struggled through destabilizing change. The cities of today are very different places.
The Los Angeles Department of Transportation's collection of trip data for shared e-scooters and similar on-demand devices is being challenged as a government overreach in federal district court.
Sacramento approved a $2.5 million contract extension for the gunshot detection technology ShotSpotter. For many of the anti-police movement, the action feels like a betrayal. The mayor believes the tech can help.
