March 12, 2020

In the wake of last week’s devastating tornadoes in Middle Tennessee, developers contacted homeowners in North Nashville, a predominately Black corridor, and offered to purchase properties affected by the natural disaster. Community members and city officials expressed concern that this push by developers may expedite gentrification and displacement. “We’re going to do everything we can to make all [disaster relief] resources available particularly in communities that are frankly vulnerable to this kind of change disrupting the community forever,” said Mayor John Cooper.

A new study finds that low-income kids who experience asthma attacks and whose families received federal rent subsidies were 25 to 30 percent less likely to visit the emergency room than children whose households were on waiting lists for subsidies. Lead author Michel Boudreaux suggests that “rent subsidies might free up a family’s budget to be spent on things that children need to be healthy.”

Florida’s legislature agreed to dedicate the entirety of the $370 million in a document stamp tax to the Sadowski Trust Fund to affordable housing programs, the first time the state has done so in 13 years. Since 2008, the legislature has diverted a total of nearly $3 billion from the fund’s dedicated revenue to balance the state budget and pay for other priorities. The Sadowski Trust Fund is dedicated to the SHIP (State Housing Initiatives Partnership) program, which provides low-income families with down payment assistance, and the SAIL (State Apartment Incentive Loan) program, which gives affordable housing developers low-interest loans.

Minneapolis’s Stable Homes, Stable Schools Program, a partnership between the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority and the Pohlad Family Foundation, provides direct rental assistance to families experiencing homelessness whose elementary school children attend 1 of 15 public schools across the city. The program has two components, an emergency fund and a rental assistance program that covers 70 percent of participants’ rent. “Right now we have 534 kids in a matter of months who have been stably housed or prevented from being homeless due to this program,” said Mayor Jacob Frey.

A new partnership between the City of Detroit, community developers, housing assistance providers, and other organizations will preserve and improve existing affordable housing stock. Detroit identified 10,000 low-income housing tax credit properties that are about to expire, and the Preservation Partnership will identify and work with the owners to maintain their affordability by helping them access resources and make essential repairs.