News Roundup

  • California Plans to Pay All Back Rent
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    Governor Gavin Newsom announced California will pay all the overdue rent that accrued during the COVID-19 pandemic using part of its $5.2 billion from federal aid packages. Yet it’s unclear whether California will continue to ban evictions after the federal moratorium ends later this month. “We should do our best to get back to the starting point where we were in December of 2019. Anything other than that is taking advantage of a crisis,” said Keith Becker, a property manager in Sonoma County.

  • Georgia Creates New Housing Voucher Program
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    Georgia is offering 1,389 special emergency housing vouchers to people who are or at risk of experiencing homeless or domestic or sexual abuse. The special vouchers are distinct from conventional vouchers because they waive restrictions on past criminal convictions and include funding for support services, such as credit counseling and overdue utility bills. It is the first program to require local housing authorities to work with local partners to implement the grants. 
  • A Double Heat and Housing Crisis Is Hitting Phoenix Workers Hard
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    Housing prices and extreme temperatures are both on the rise in the southwest US, but it hasn’t slowed the growth of cities like Phoenix, Arizona, where construction is booming. Many construction workers and landscapers worry about passing out or dying on the job on 115-degree days. Meanwhile, many people living in trailers are deciding between paying rent and paying utility bills. Just last year, people experiencing homelessness made up half the 323 heat-related deaths in the Phoenix area. “We have this perfect storm happening here of an affordable housing crisis, high eviction rates, massive energy bill burdens, Covid,” says Stacey Champion, heat activist.

  • Zoning Reform Makes Way for More Usable Space in Cities
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    Buffalo, New York’s old zoning code—which was developed in the 1950s, when cars were the primary mode of transportation—required nearly half of downtown areas to be parking lots. In 2017, the city passed the first legislation in the US to drop minimum parking requirements from development projects and create more space for housing, businesses, parks, and more. Other cities have since followed suit, but, until now, there’s been little data showing how parking reforms influence urban development. New research finds developers of 36 major projects in Buffalo included 47 percent fewer parking spots than the previous zoning mandated.