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.
Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Georgia and South Carolina added almost 1.2 million people between them this year. The South was the only region to draw net new residents from other states.
States define recidivism differently, which can result in misleading interpretations of the statistics.
Tourist-dependent Clatsop County, population 41,000, has the highest rate of homelessness in Oregon. A project to convert a hotel into housing units for healthcare workers and the unhoused is a step in the right direction, leaders say.
Between 2000 and 2020, millions of Americans have moved away from high-flood-risk areas. When between 5 to 10 percent of properties in a census block are at risk of flooding, people start to move out of the area, even despite attractive amenities.
City leaders must ensure that the voices of all residents are heard. It’s easier said than done.
Homeownership is more common in rural areas, but the rental market can be tight, especially for lower-income families. A new report from the Housing Assistance Council analyzes the central role of housing in community resilience.
The latest data from HUD shows a 12 percent increase in the homeless population. After declines over the last decade, current trends are troubling, but it's not clear how long the upward swing will last.
The state was one of eight that saw population declines between July 2022 and July 2023. Illinois was third in total population decline, behind New York and California, but remains the sixth most populous state.
James Brainard is stepping down after leading Carmel, Ind., for 28 years. He’s best known nationally for building roundabouts and promoting local climate efforts, but his legacy rests with how he rebuilt the Indianapolis suburb.
Omaha Housing Authority has filed more than 400 evictions this year, with 85 percent of those filings over debts allegedly owed to the agency. More than four-dozen filings involved debts of less than $300.
Increased education, the demand for service workers and an increased share of citizens within the Latino population are combining to boost incomes.
Chicago is pondering city-owned grocery stores in its poor neighborhoods. It might be a worthwhile experiment.
Many of life’s little enjoyments used to be concentrated in university communities. Now they are turning up almost everywhere.
Localities have always been creatures of state government. But their freedom to act independently is up against ever more stringent limits.
Ingredients include increased numbers of residents, cultural amenities and tourism. The key is not depending too heavily on office workers.
Even in a work-from-home era, deregulation — fewer restrictions on commercial property development — would lead to more business creation and more jobs with higher wages.
The city’s Housing Authority received the federal grant to help voucher holders relocate to areas of high opportunity. The DHA estimates that more than 3,500 families are living in non-high-opportunity areas.
More than 12,000 state residents who applied or attempted to recertify for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps, are still awaiting for their benefits to be processed months later.
Just a few years ago, the California city was winning acclaim as a national model for gun violence prevention. Last year, a regional trauma center treated 502 gunshot victims, compared to just 283 in 2019.
The City Council voted unanimously to equip about 810 sworn police officers with body cameras next year, making a summertime pilot program permanent. However only 297 of the patrol officers will be required to wear them routinely.
The city’s Board of Supervisors voted to terminate the Homelessness and Behavioral Health Select Committee on Tuesday after deeming it had been an experiment that had “run its course.”
For years, a conservation-focused legal foundation and a nonprofit housing financier have partnered with local governments, investors, researchers and developers to lay the foundation for healthy neighborhoods.
There are no easy solutions to America’s growing immigration challenges, but Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and New York Mayor Eric Adams should be recognized for the decisive action they have taken.
One of the hallmarks of effective homeless response is coordinated effort. Mayors met in Los Angeles, the nation's homeless capital, to figure out how they can work together to reduce the entrenched problem.
Los Angeles spends millions on body cameras to help provide transparency and accountability, but most of the footage never gets seen. Now department leaders are wondering if artificial intelligence can help solve the issue.
One scholar thinks we have carried our penchant for urban tree-worship a bit too far, giving nature too much credit for city-dwellers’ mental health.
Interest in leasing new office space was at just 21 percent of pre-pandemic levels for the third quarter of 2023. However, there was a slight increase in tenants looking for mid-sized office space.
States are passing new laws to combat retail theft, though government data doesn’t show that it is actually increasing. None of the new laws are likely to reduce crime and could disproportionately impact marginalized groups.
The City Council approved the network that will cost $12 million over the next five years, will be made up of 500 cameras equipped with license plate reading technology, and could be implemented as soon as January.
Heat and flood warnings mixed with mounting political pressure make life for the city’s unhoused population especially challenging. Earlier this year, a grand jury found the city’s homelessness solutions ineffective.
