News Roundup

  • White House Wants to Crack Down on California Homeless Camps
    This week, a large delegation of Trump administration officials is visiting California after the president ordered a crackdown on homelessness in the state. Officials have discussed the possibilities of eliminating tent camps, creating temporary facilities to house people experiencing homelessness, or refurbishing existing government facilities, but no plan has been publicly revealed. It’s unclear what legal authority the administration would use and how state politicians would cooperate.
  • Housing Authority Program Sets Youth Up for College and Employment Success
    Rising college freshman Rafael Salas believes a youth development program run by the Cambridge Housing Authority is “the backbone of [his] success.” Work Force provides seven years’ worth of after-school workshops, mentorship, college preparatory courses, and more to youth in eighth grade through sophomore year in college who live in subsidized housing. “When you are living in poverty, you have so many challenges that are out of your control. We have to break down those barriers for our students,” says Kambiz Maali, deputy director of resident services at the housing authority.
  • Disaster Recovery Spending Lags
    As of June 30, the federal government had spent less than a third of the $107 billion approved by Congress for disaster recovery in 2017 and 2018. Most of the money comes from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, which help communities recover and rebuild homes and infrastructure. “If we had all the money, and everything was flowing, we would be safer. There’s a lot of suffering while you wait,” said Laura Hogshead, chief operating officer for the Office of Recovery and Resiliency in North Carolina.
  • Seattle Designates Land for Affordable Housing
    On Thursday, Mayor Jenny Durkan announced that Seattle will transfer land at no cost to two nonprofit developers who will build condominiums and townhouses targeted at households that make 80 percent or less of the area’s median income. “We know we must continue to act with urgency to address our housing and affordability crisis. The cost of buying a home is out of reach for many families in Seattle, which is why we must continue using all the innovative tools at the City’s disposal to ensure families can afford to continue to live and work in our city,” Durkan said.
  • Analysis Reveals Stark Segregation in Denver Public Schools
    More than half of schools in the Denver Public Schools (DPS) district have student bodies composed 90 percent or more of children of color, and white students are more likely to go to schools with other white children than they were in 2006, found a Denver Post analysis. It noted that DPS and other metro-area school districts would have to move many kids for their schools to reflect the racial makeup of their districts. The analysis shows that the school segregation mirrors neighborhood segregation. “My perspective is, people take their kids where it’s most convenient,” said Diana Wilson, a spokeswoman for Jeffco Public Schools.