July 22, 2022

A report released Tuesday by Maria Pappas, treasurer of Cook County, Illinois, spotlights a link between redlining practices that date back decades and vacant lots in Chicago. It found areas that were redlined and marked “undesirable” because of their racial makeup are 2.75 times more likely to be listed on a scavenger sale or owned by the city and the Cook County Land Bank Authority. “We think there will be hearings about this report,” says Pappas.

A new Missouri law makes it a crime for people experiencing homelessness to sleep on state-owned lands, including highway overpasses and bridges. The law, which goes into effect on January 1, 2023, also prevents cities from using state and federal funds to build permanent housing for unsheltered people, only allowing the construction of temporary camps.

School districts in the San Francisco Bay Area are increasingly building affordable housing for educators to bring teachers closer to the communities they teach and increase teacher retention. Critics have opposed plans for the leasing of school property in a San Mateo County district for mixed-use development that would combine retail and market-rate housing, calling instead for below-market-rate housing and more preservation of open space.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic’s devastating impact on the senior housing market, developers are unveiling various models to cater to baby boomers. They range from high rises with wellness spas and hotel-style amenities to subsidized multigenerational rental units centered around green spaces. “We have to design communities that cater to what boomers want, and that’s a difference between senior housing today and housing developed 10 or 20 years ago,” says Bobby Zeiller, cochief executive of Silverstone Senior Living.