January 27, 2022

Deadly fires in the Bronx caused by electric space heaters underscore an additional benefit of phasing out oil aside from carbon emissions: residents’ safety. Many subsidized, income-restricted complexes haven't received energy upgrades in decades, causing some tenants to rely on malfunction-prone space heaters. Advocates say the green push can lead to immediate health benefits. “We can’t achieve a climate-just society without centering BIPOC [Black, Indigenous and People of Color] and low-income communities,” said Daphany Sanchez, executive director of Kinetic Communities Consulting. “The fire that you saw in The Bronx is exactly the issue: the result of people ignoring climate, the result of people ignoring Black and brown communities.” 

As homeless encampments in major cities become more visible, residents and police departments are becoming concerned with crime associated with the camps, such as open sale and consumption of drugs and items stolen from nearby stores. But experts warn against assuming encampments are responsible for crime increases. Charles Lanfear, quantitative sociologist at the University of Oxford, found that on-average increases in the size of homeless camps are not associated with increases in property crime. 

Last month, the housing supply in the Philadelphia metropolitan area was down 9 percent from December 2020 and down about 35 percent from prepandemic levels in December 2019, according to Zillow. Record-low supply has driven up home prices and discouraged homeowners from selling to avoid competition themselves. The lack of housing options can be especially difficult for first-time home buyers. “For someone who doesn’t have a foot on the escalator of property values, this is a hard time to try to get on,” said Jeff Tucker, Zillow senior economist. 

The Las Vegas Coalition to Make Homes Possible plans to help 25,000 Black families become homeowner over the next decade. The coalition will connect families to information and resources to help them purchase homes and create generational wealth they have been denied through decades of discriminatory housing policies and racist lending practices. “To truly close the gap of homeownership, we really will have to change policies and the country will have to deal with the fact that for generations, other people benefited off the backs of the Black community,” said Shanta Patton, member of the coalition.