March 03, 2022

A recent report by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) found that though the US homeownership rate increased by 1.3 percent overall between 2019 and 2020, the rate for Black Americans was lower than it was 10 years before. “As the gap in homeownership rates for Black and white Americans has widened, it is important to understand the unique challenges that minority homebuyers face,” said Jessica Lautz, NAR vice president of demographics and behavioral insights.

Ulster County, New York, plans to transform its former county jail site into a new neighborhood of mixed-income, intergenerational workforce housing. The project will make use of the vacant prison while addressing the high demand for affordable housing. “To build housing in New York, and especially upstate New York, given all the challenges, we have to be really creative and innovative and finding sites we can repurpose,” said Pat Ryan, Ulster County executive.  

The California Department of Housing and Community Development rejected Los Angeles’s housing plan for not complying with the state’s new laws designed to promote greater development across California. Under the law, Los Angeles must rezone for 255,000 new homes by mid-October, or they risk losing access to billions of dollars in affordable housing grants. “Rezoning the entire city in one year is infeasible, and we don’t believe that penalty was meant to apply to jurisdictions pursuing compliance in good faith,” said Alex Comisar, a Garcetti spokesman.

A new report commissioned by the California School Boards Association evaluated school properties in California based on teachers’ need for housing assistance and the sites’ capacity for providing it. The report found that one in five properties are well-suited for affordable housing, with 61 percent located where entry-level teachers face housing challenges. “Teachers’ salaries are not keeping up with the rising cost of living in California. Coupled with our mounting housing crisis, school districts are hemorrhaging good teachers and quality staff members faster than we can recruit them,” said assembly member Richard Bloom.