Legislation & Policy

How Zoning Shapes our Lives

Publication
Jun 12, 2019
Maya Brennan, Emily Peiffer, and Kimberly Burrowes for How Housing Matters, The Urban Institute
Zoning rules dictate more than just how we can use and build on land. They also shape our communities and our lives. Land use laws determine where we can find housing, schools, and parks—and who has access to them.

New report underscores link between 'shocking' number of evictions, homelessness

News Article
Jun 10, 2019
Jenna Chandler for Curbed Los Angeles
More than a half million renters have been evicted in Los Angeles County over the past eight years, according to a new report by Public Counsel and the UCLA School of Law that calls on county supervisors to adopt permanent rent control measures.

Reducing Cost-of-Living Adjustment Would Make Poverty Line a Less Accurate Measure of Basic Needs

Publication
Jun 11, 2019
Arloc Sherman and Paul Van de Water for The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
The Trump Administration is publicly weighing plans to gradually lower the official poverty line by applying a smaller cost-of-living adjustment each year. Doing so would be unjustified for several reasons.

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: Initiatives to Make SNAP Benefits More Adequate Significantly Improve Food Security, Nutrition, and Health

Publication
Food Research & Action Center (FRAC)
This paper analyzes why SNAP benefits are inadequate, reviews the body of research showing positive effects from more adequate SNAP benefits, and offers key policy solutions to improve benefit adequacy.

Advisory: How Do Recent HUD Proposed Rules About Verification of Immigration Status Impact Survivors of Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault?

Policy Brief
May 10, 2019
Grace Huang for the Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence
Policies such as those outlined in the draft proposed rule are having, and will continue to have a significant detrimental impact on survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault by deterring immigrant families, including those with U.S.

HUD's Mixed-Status Rule

Policy Brief
National Housing Law Project and National Low Income Housing Coalition
On May 10, 2019, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) proposed a rule that would significantly change the agency’s eligibility requirements for federal housing assistance based on immigration status.