December 16, 2021

In the Las Vegas metropolitan area, the Black homeownership rate was 33 points lower than it was for white households in 2019 due to historic and ongoing discrimination that have contributed to disparities in factors such as availability of credit. To close the gap, the Make Homes Possible program, a coalition of Las Vegas organizations and community leaders, will help 25,000 Black families buy homes over the next decade. “We’ve counseled hundreds of people so far. Our numbers are small now, but that’s because we’re gearing people up to put them in the homeownership pipeline,” said Shanta Patton-Golar, leader of the Make Homes Possible coalition.

Data from New York City show there was at least a 7-degree temperature difference between the South Bronx—one of the poorest neighborhoods in New York City—and the Upper East Side of Manhattan, one of the wealthiest. These data are crucial to understanding where and who is most affected by climate change and how communities can target resources toward reducing temperature. “As community members who actually fight for justice, and social justice, and environmental justice, we can now say, ‘There is actual data that says, we breathe different air.’ There is actual data that says, ‘We see and feel heat differently than everywhere else’,” said Melissa Barber, founder of activist organization South Bronx Unite.

The Salish and Kootenai Housing Authority in Montana plans to use pandemic relief funds to build about as many homes in the next year as it has in the past 25. It has struggled to provide much-needed affordable housing the Indian Housing Block Grant, which was created to fund affordable housing on tribal reservations. “I haven’t counted, but I would bet at least 50 families or individuals will be housed because of this money,” said Jody Perez, executive director of the Salish and Kootenai Housing Authority.

Pandemic relief has slowed evictions, and compared with the Great Recession era, the resulting increase in foreclosures has been modest. Though every segment of the economy suffered and housing prices dipped, during the pandemic, people in lower-wage sectors experienced job loss, while those in high-wage jobs have mostly avoided the economic impact. The demand for housing among less affected households drove up housing prices. Experts believe there will be a historic surge of forced sales because of the disparity between those who gained and those who lost during the pandemic. This could lead to more homeowners becoming renters, potentially creating similar outcomes to the recession, despite different market circumstances.