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Housing Is Working Group 2023-2024 Calendar

Join the Housing Is Working Group to discuss special topics related to cross-sector initiatives and programmatic considerations particularly focused on the intersections of housing, health, and education.

This year’s public webinars cover topics such as the mobility asthma project, trauma-informed approaches to housing, resident-focused racial equity work, out-of-school time, and how FCC grantees are supprting voucher holders.

View Calendar
 

Elements of a Successful Partnership

With generous support from the MacArthur Foundation, CLPHA developed an in-depth report on regional housing-education collaborations taking place at housing authorities across the Pacific-Northwest.

Read the Multimedia Report
 
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News Article
Community:
Apr 2, 2019
A comprehensive plan would increase King County residents’ confidence in local efforts to address the region’s homelessness crisis, and seeing fewer people living on the streets would prove that it’s working, according to a new poll. Conducted in February by Seattle-based Elway Research, the poll is the latest to explore county residents’ complex feelings about the homelessness crisis and the long-running effort to resolve it.

Authored by: Vernal Coleman for The Seattle Times
Topics: Homelessness, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Low-income
Shared by Housing Is on Apr 4, 2019

Frustrated King County residents want a plan to address homeless crisis, new poll says

News Article
Apr 2, 2019
Vernal Coleman for The Seattle Times
A comprehensive plan would increase King County residents’ confidence in local efforts to address the region’s homelessness crisis, and seeing fewer people living on the streets would prove that it’s working, according to a new poll.
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News Article
Community:
Mar 31, 2019
Miami is projected to face anywhere from 1 to 3 feet of sea level rise by 2060, and as sea levels rise, higher ground inland has started to look more and more desirable. Much of that higher ground is in the city's poorest neighborhoods, like Liberty City and Little Haiti. The shifting real estate landscape is just one example of how, in Miami, the effects of global warming are not hypothetical predictions but realities of everyday life, prompting action by government, businesses and individuals alike. Across the region, developers are changing how they build, wealthy homeowners are reinforcing their properties, and in communities that are farther from the coast — places like Liberty City — residents are working to make sure they don't have to leave their homes.

Authored by: Ian Stewart and Lulu Garcia-Navarro for NPR
Topics: Community development, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Low-income, Racial inequalities, South
Shared by Housing Is on Apr 4, 2019

Building For An Uncertain Future: Miami Residents Adapt To The Changing Climate

News Article
Mar 31, 2019
Ian Stewart and Lulu Garcia-Navarro for NPR
Miami is projected to face anywhere from 1 to 3 feet of sea level rise by 2060, and as sea levels rise, higher ground inland has started to look more and more desirable. Much of that higher ground is in the city's poorest neighborhoods, like Liberty City and Little Haiti.
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Report
Community:
Apr 1, 2019
Thoughtful and thorough preparations for the disruptive effects of global climate change can provide a range of options for communities and households that would respect their historical assets, current and potential levels of social cohesion, desires for their own life outcomes, and opportunities for collective action. In all cases, people and communities should exercise meaningful voice and power over decisions about where, how, and how much to adapt to local climate effects. Regardless of the combination of physical and social interventions communities adopt, inclusion and equity must be fundamental to both the process of selection and the outcomes of the options selected.

Authored by: The Urban Institute
Topics: Housing, Legislation & Policy, Research, Sustainability
Shared by Housing Is on Apr 4, 2019

What would it take to make sure all families can live in a physically secure home and a stable community that's prepared for the effects of global climate change?

Report
Apr 1, 2019
The Urban Institute
Thoughtful and thorough preparations for the disruptive effects of global climate change can provide a range of options for communities and households that would respect their historical assets, current and potential levels of social cohesion, desires for their own life outcomes, and opportunities f
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News Article
Community:
Apr 2, 2019
A group called the Fostering Stable Housing Opportunities (FSHO) Coalition — which includes Callahan’s youth-led ACTION Ohio and the National Center for Housing and Child Welfare — met in early March with Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson to lay out a plan for a $20 million voucher program aimed at preventing homelessness for transition age foster youth. Under that plan, HUD would use an existing pot of money to provide on-demand vouchers and assistance for foster youth who needed stable housing.” HUD is currently reviewing the proposal to determine the agency’s authority to act on it. If the plan moves forward, it could be a game changer for thousands of teens and young adults who age out of foster care each year.

Authored by: John Kelly for The Chronicle of Social Change
Topics: Child welfare, Foster care, Funding, Housing, Legislation & Policy
Shared by Housing Is on Apr 2, 2019

Trump Administration Reviewing Plan for Housing Support to Any Youth Aging Out of Foster Care

News Article
Apr 2, 2019
John Kelly for The Chronicle of Social Change
A group called the Fostering Stable Housing Opportunities (FSHO) Coalition — which includes Callahan’s youth-led ACTION Ohio and the National Center for Housing and Child Welfare — met in early March with Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson to lay out a plan for a $20 million vo
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Publication
Community:
Mar 28, 2019
On March 28, 2019, the campaign released the results of a national public opinion poll that it commissioned through Hart Research Associates. The poll is the first in several years to extensively assess the extent to which the public considers housing affordability to be a problem in their communities, whether they have had to make sacrifices in other areas of life because of housing costs, whether they expect action from elected officials, whether they are more likely to vote for a candidate that has a detailed plan to address the problem, and their openness to the specific policy solutions outlined in the campaign’s National Policy Agenda. The poll will help inform national policymakers about how the public views the issue of housing affordability, its impacts on other sectors, and specific policy solutions.

Authored by: Opportunity Starts at Home
Topics: Housing, Legislation & Policy, Research
Shared by Housing Is on Apr 2, 2019
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News Article
Community:
Mar 28, 2019
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on Thursday charged Facebook with discrimination under the Fair Housing Act. HUD says it believes the company was “encouraging, enabling, and causing housing discrimination through the company’s advertising platform.”

Authored by: Matt Novak for Gizmodo
Topics: Housing, Legislation & Policy, Racial inequalities
Shared by Housing Is on Apr 2, 2019
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Research
Community:
Feb 1, 2019
The authors draw on interviews with 50 families in Cleveland and its suburbs to uncover their experiences in choosing a home and school for their children in the suburbs. Nearly all families were seeking the “package deal”— good schools in good neighborhoods — and looked to the suburbs to find it. Families were often convinced of the superior quality of suburban schools but, owing to the legacies of enduring structural racism and emerging segregation in the suburbs, Black families were more likely to be disappointed in their suburban schools than their white counterparts. Families of color were also constrained by the legacies of enduring structural racism that has reproduced racial inequalities.

Authored by: Anna Rhodes and Siri Warkentien for How Housing Matters Research (MacArthur Foundation)
Topics: Education, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Racial inequalities, Research
Shared by Housing Is on Mar 28, 2019

Even As The Suburbs Diversify, Racial Inequality Persists in Suburban Schools

Research
Feb 1, 2019
Anna Rhodes and Siri Warkentien for How Housing Matters Research (MacArthur Foundation)
The authors draw on interviews with 50 families in Cleveland and its suburbs to uncover their experiences in choosing a home and school for their children in the suburbs. Nearly all families were seeking the “package deal”— good schools in good neighborhoods — and looked to the suburbs to find it.
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Policy Brief
Community:
Oct 1, 2016
Emerging health care financing models require much more sophisticated actuarial calculations than previous payment arrangements, often taking into account risk factors such as homelessness. Homelessness also has direct implications for clinical treatment decisions and integrated care models and should be noted in individual patient records. This policy brief provides a rationale for using the ICD-10-CM code for homelessness, outlines the challenges to maximizing this code, and offers strategies to consider to ensure health care providers ask about homelessness and record patients’ housing status. This data is highly relevant to clinicians and administrators at health centers, hospitals, state Medicaid systems, Medicaid managed care organizations, and public health departments.

Authored by: National Health Care for the Homeless Council
Topics: Health, Homelessness, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Low-income, Medicaid / Medicare
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Mar 26, 2019
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News Article
Community:
Mar 18, 2019
The Department of Education reports more than 29,000 kids in North Carolina were considered homeless in the 2016-2017 school year. About three-quarters of those are living with other families because it’s too expensive to live on their own. According to Shantiqua Neely, it’s not necessarily because people don’t have jobs. She’s the executive director at A Child’s Place, the organization helps homeless CMS students and families. She said it’s because rent is too expensive.

Authored by: Alex Olgin for WFAE 90.7
Topics: Child welfare, Education, Homelessness, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Low-income
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Mar 26, 2019
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News Article
Community:
Mar 18, 2019
Taller buildings in the hearts of more than two dozen neighborhoods, denser housing on some nearby blocks and requirements that developers help create affordable housing. That’s what Seattle is getting after the City Council voted unanimously Monday to approve some of the most sweeping zoning changes in the city’s recent history.

Authored by: Daniel Beekman for The Seattle Times
Topics: Community development, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Low-income
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Mar 26, 2019
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Publication
Community:
Mar 20, 2019
To equip municipalities with the skills and tools to address these challenges, New York State created the $12 million Cities for Responsible Investment and Strategic Enforcement (Cities RISE) program, which provides leadership, management, and technical support to help 16 municipalities address deteriorating homes, vacant properties, and neighborhood decline through strategic code enforcement. Cities RISE uses code enforcement strategies to advance broader community development goals, and, in doing so, helps municipalities align programs aimed at improving residents’ quality of life.

Authored by: Aaron Shroyer How Housing Matters (The Urban Institute)
Topics: Community development, Data sharing, Homelessness, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Partnerships
Shared by Housing Is on Mar 26, 2019

How Strategic Code Enforcement is Improving the Quality of Life for Niagara Falls Residents

Publication
Mar 20, 2019
Aaron Shroyer How Housing Matters (The Urban Institute)
To equip municipalities with the skills and tools to address these challenges, New York State created the $12 million Cities for Responsible Investment and Strategic Enforcement (Cities RISE) program, which provides leadership, management, and technical support to help 16 municipalities address dete
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News Article
Community:
Mar 22, 2019
HOME, CDBG, Housing Trust Fund, and other key housing programs are proposed to be cut.

Authored by: Donna Kimura for Affordable Housing Finance
Topics: Funding, Homelessness, Housing, Legislation & Policy
Shared by Housing Is on Mar 26, 2019
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Report
Community:
Mar 25, 2019
Use of the $35 billion in federal Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funds for the 2017 hurricanes has been slow. Over a year after the first funds were appropriated, much of the money remains unspent because grantees in Florida, Puerto Rico, Texas, and the U.S. Virgin Islands are still in planning phases. Also, the Department of Housing and Urban Development doesn't have the review guidance and monitoring plans it needs for good grantee oversight. We recommended ways to improve the oversight of disaster funding and better meet disaster recovery needs.

Authored by: U.S. Government Accountability Office
Topics: Community development, Funding, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Research, Safety, U.S. Territories
Shared by Housing Is on Mar 26, 2019

Disaster Recovery: Better Monitoring of Block Grant Funds Is Needed

Report
Mar 25, 2019
U.S. Government Accountability Office
Use of the $35 billion in federal Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funds for the 2017 hurricanes has been slow. Over a year after the first funds were appropriated, much of the money remains unspent because grantees in Florida, Puerto Rico, Texas, and the U.S.
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Research
Community:
The U.S. has a shortage of seven million rental homes affordable and available to extremely low-income renters, whose household incomes are at or below the poverty guideline or 30% of their area median income. Only 37 affordable and available rental homes exist for every 100 extremely low-income renter households. Extremely low-income renters face a shortage in every state and major metropolitan area, including the District of Columbia. Among states, the supply of affordable and available rental homes ranges from only 19 for every 100 extremely low-income renter households in Nevada to 66 in Wyoming. Among the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S, the supply ranges from 13 affordable and available rental homes for every 100 extremely low-income renter households in Orlando, FL to 51 in Pittsburgh, PA.

Authored by: National Low Income Housing Coalition
Topics: Homelessness, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Research
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Mar 14, 2019
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News Article
Community:
Mar 12, 2019
The proposed bill follows an NBC News investigation that found at least 11 public housing residents had died of carbon monoxide poisoning since 2003.

Authored by: Suzy Khimm for NBC News
Topics: Funding, Health, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Safety
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Mar 14, 2019
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News Article
Community:
Mar 11, 2019
The Trump administration released its budget proposal today for fiscal year 2020, and like its previous budget requests for 2017, 2018, and 2019, the administration is proposing steep cuts to both the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Department of Transportation (DoT).

Authored by: Jeff Andrews for Curbed
Topics: Funding, Homelessness, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Transportation
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Mar 14, 2019

Trump administration proposes dramatic cuts to public housing - again

News Article
Mar 11, 2019
Jeff Andrews for Curbed
The Trump administration released its budget proposal today for fiscal year 2020, and like its previous budget requests for 2017, 2018, and 2019, the administration is proposing steep cuts to both the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Department of Transportation (DoT).
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Research
Community:
Feb 5, 2019
Housing is considered a social determinant of health, with poor housing conditions being associated with poor health. Veterans with disabilities are more likely to experience a housing crisis because of combat experiences and employment instability. We identified facilitators and barriers to finding and maintaining rental housing. We sought to understand the housing needs of Veterans with military-related disabilities using the biopsychoecological model (BEM) as an organizing framework.

Authored by: Semeah, Ahrentzen, Cowper-Ripley, Santos-Roman, Beamish, and Farley for Housing Policy Debate
Topics: Disabilities, Funding, Health, Homelessness, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Research, Safety, Seniors, Stability
Shared by Housing Is on Mar 14, 2019

In Their Own Words: Veterans with Disabilities Share Their Housing Challenges

Research
Feb 5, 2019
Semeah, Ahrentzen, Cowper-Ripley, Santos-Roman, Beamish, and Farley for Housing Policy Debate
Housing is considered a social determinant of health, with poor housing conditions being associated with poor health. Veterans with disabilities are more likely to experience a housing crisis because of combat experiences and employment instability.
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Publication
Community:
Feb 15, 2019
Last month, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to dedicate $5 million to preventing housing discrimination and to develop an ordinance to protect housing choice voucher holders from source of income discrimination. The supervisors have until May to draft the ordinance’s language and have not yet developed a timeline for enacting it, but these actions are a step toward expanding voucher holders’ housing options.

Authored by: Alyse Oneto, Martha Galvez, and Claudia Aranda for Urban Institute
Topics: Housing, Legislation & Policy, Low-income, Racial inequalities, West Coast
Shared by Housing Is on Mar 13, 2019

Los Angeles County is taking steps to prevent discrimination against housing voucher holders

Publication
Feb 15, 2019
Alyse Oneto, Martha Galvez, and Claudia Aranda for Urban Institute
Last month, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to dedicate $5 million to preventing housing discrimination and to develop an ordinance to protect housing choice voucher holders from source of income discrimination.
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Podcast
Community:
Feb 26, 2019
Many are wondering how engaged President Trump actually is on one of his campaign issues: revitalizing the nation’s crumbling infrastructure. Eyes are turning back to Congress for a broad infrastructure package. Yet there is an even bigger issue of the looming insolvency of the Highway Trust Fund. BPC’s Jake Varn is joined by former Reps. Bill Shuster (R-PA) and Joe Crowley(D-NY) to discuss these issues.

Authored by: Bipartisan Policy Center
Topics: Community development, Funding, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Transportation
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Mar 12, 2019

The Infrastructure Debate - Infrastructure and Congress

Podcast
Feb 26, 2019
Bipartisan Policy Center
Many are wondering how engaged President Trump actually is on one of his campaign issues: revitalizing the nation’s crumbling infrastructure. Eyes are turning back to Congress for a broad infrastructure package. Yet there is an even bigger issue of the looming insolvency of the Highway Trust Fund.
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Research
Community:
The lead article, “Landlords: Critical Participants in the Housing Choice Voucher Program,” provides a basic overview of the HCV program and the role that landlords play in it; examines the implications of voucher acceptance for assisted households; surveys existing research on landlord participation; and provides examples of the types of program and initiatives that HUD, PHAs, and local governments are pursuing to increase voucher acceptance. The Research Spotlight, “HUD-Sponsored Research Sheds New Light on HCV Landlords,” by Meena Bavan and Paul Joice, discusses the findings of two recent HUD-sponsored studies, “A Pilot Study of Landlord Acceptance of Housing Choice Vouchers,” and “Urban Landlords and the Housing Choice Voucher Program: A Research Report.” Finally, the In Practice article, “PHAs Encourage Landlord Participation With Incentives,” discusses initiatives in Marin County, California, and Cambridge, Massachusetts, that offer financial benefits, education, and streamlined administrative processes to encourage landlords to lease to voucher holders.

Authored by: HUD, Office of Policy Development and Research
Topics: Housing, Legislation & Policy, Low-income, Research
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Mar 12, 2019
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Report
Community:
Healthy Housing for All: How Affordable Housing is Leading the Way explores the affordable housing industry’s achievements in creating healthier housing environments and translates them into lessons for the broader housing marketplace. The innovations in healthy affordable housing present an opportunity to replicate healthy housing successes, as well as to respond to market demand across the residential development industry.

Authored by: Urban Land Institute
Topics: Health, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Research
Shared by Housing Is on Mar 11, 2019
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Publication
Community:
Jan 25, 2019
As a result of decades of legalized discrimination in the housing industry, huge racial disparities in homeownership still exist today. This is not acceptable in a country founded on equal opportunity. Nationally, 72 percent of white households own a home, compared to only 42 percent of black households and 46 percent of Hispanic households. Homes typically make up the largest portion of a family’s overall wealth, so these disparities in homeownership are the most significant factor in the racial wealth gap.

Authored by: Kevin Campbell for Habitat for Humanity of Wake County
Topics: Asset building, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Racial inequalities
Shared by Housing Is on Mar 11, 2019
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News Article
Community:
Mar 11, 2019
The housing crisis has given rise to acronyms which define the battle over new developments: "Yes in My Backyard" (YIMBYs) vs. “Not In My Backyard" (NIMBYs). And now there's a new acronym: PHIMBY, as in "Public Housing in My Backyard."

Authored by: Jessica Placzek for KQED
Topics: Community development, Housing, Legislation & Policy, West Coast
Shared by Housing Is on Mar 11, 2019
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News Article
Community:
Feb 28, 2019
Over the past decade, the real estate fortunes for African Americans have reversed course. Despite a strengthening economy, including record low unemployment and higher wages for black workers, homeownership levels for that group have dropped incrementally almost every year since 2004. It fell to 43 percent in 2017, virtually erasing all of the gains made since the passage of the Fair Housing Act in 1968, landmark legislation outlawing housing discrimination.

Authored by: Troy McMullen for The Washington Post
Topics: Asset building, Community development, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Racial inequalities
Shared by Housing Is on Mar 11, 2019

The 'heartbreaking' decrease in black homeownership

News Article
Feb 28, 2019
Troy McMullen for The Washington Post
Over the past decade, the real estate fortunes for African Americans have reversed course. Despite a strengthening economy, including record low unemployment and higher wages for black workers, homeownership levels for that group have dropped incrementally almost every year since 2004.
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News Article
Community:
Mar 6, 2019
Fort Worth’s work finding housing solutions for those facing homelessness can serve as a model for the rest of the country, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson said Wednesday during a stop in Cowtown, one of several planned in Texas.

Authored by: Luke Ranker for Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Topics: Funding, Homelessness, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Low-income, Partnerships, South
Shared by Housing Is on Mar 11, 2019

Fort Worth is a model for the country, HUD Secretary Ben Carson says. Here's why

News Article
Mar 6, 2019
Luke Ranker for Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Fort Worth’s work finding housing solutions for those facing homelessness can serve as a model for the rest of the country, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson said Wednesday during a stop in Cowtown, one of several planned in Texas.