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☆ The US wants to boost affordable housing by using billions in unspent COVID aid
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-06 | by ( Filip De Mott | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The US Treasury Department is making unused COVID funds available to support housing projects. The State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds has around $40 billion in unspent money, Reuters said. The Treasury will also step up efforts to understand the impact of climate risks on housing supply. AdvertisementBillions of unspent pandemic dollars have been made available for housing projects as the federal government steps up efforts to tackle the shortage of affordable homes. The department also indefinitely extended backstop financing for a risk-sharing program between the Department of Housing and Urban Development and local financing agencies.

Persons: —, Wally Adeyemo Organizations: US Treasury Department, Reuters, Treasury, Service, US Treasury, of Housing, Urban Development Locations: State

☆ Prince William shows his style of royal leadership with rare interventions
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-26 | by ( Max Foster | Lauren Said-Moorhouse | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Prince William certainly wants everyone to know he’s back on the frontline of royal duties, after taking some time away to support his wife, Catherine, following her January operation for an unspecified abdominal condition. William has followed the region closely since his landmark trip to Israel and the West Bank in 2018, the first by any member of the British royal family, a royal source told CNN. Prince William speaks to Pascal Hundt of the ICRC on February 20, 2024. Prince William during a visit to Bournemouth AFC's Vitality Stadium in Dorset, England on September 7, 2023. The British royal family has long taken a stance of political neutrality and does not generally comment on sensitive issues.

Persons: Prince William, Catherine, He’s, ” William, ”, Cross, William, Pascal Hundt, Kin Cheung, Ben Murphy, Prince, Wales, “, ” Murphy, William’s “, Andrew Matthews, he’s, doesn’t Organizations: CNN, International Committee, West Bank, ICRC, UK’s, Media, Royal Foundation, Bournemouth, Royal, Foreign Office Locations: Israel, Gaza, London, England, Cornwall, Nansledan, Newquay, Dorset, Ukraine

In 2004, voters approved legislation that imposed a tax on millionaires to finance mental health services, generating $2 billion to $3 billion in revenue each year that has mostly gone to counties to fund mental health programs as they see fit under broad guidelines. San Francisco Mayor London Breed said she supports the measure. The 14-year-old center with a mission of breaking the cycle of trauma in the Black community relies heavily on mental health funding from the county. The state needs some 8,000 more beds to treat mental health and addiction issues, according to researchers who testified before state lawmakers last year. “From a humanitarian and civil rights perspective, we vehemently oppose Proposition 1,” said Mark Salazar, executive director of Mental Health Association of San Francisco, which serves more than 15,000 people monthly.

Persons: Gavin Newsom, Newsom, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, Tiffany McCarter, —, McCarter, “, ” McCarter, haven't, ”, Mark Salazar, ” Mark Cloutier, Joe Wilson, Anthony Hardnett, “ You’ve, ” Hardnett, ” Kalkowski, “ I’ve Organizations: — Democratic, — Democratic California Gov, San Francisco Mayor London, Cultural Center, Democratic, University of San, Housing Initiative, Mental Health Association of San, House, Sixth, 6th Street Center, Youth Locations: OROVILLE, Calif, — Democratic California, Butte, San Francisco, Butte County, Oroville, California, United States, Mental Health Association of San Francisco, Tenderloin, Chico

☆ Strong economic growth but high unemployment: A look at Nevada’s economy
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-08 | by ( Alicia Wallace | Tami Luhby | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

In Las Vegas, the cacophony of voices, music, ringing slot machines and car horns that typically pulsed through the Las Vegas Strip was replaced by silence, the chirps of birds and the wails of sirens. In tourism-dependent Nevada, the unemployment rate rocketed even higher, topping out at 30.6% that month. “This is an unemployment rate that’s not driven by job losers, this is an unemployment rate driven by job seekers,” he said. Homes under construction in the Summerlin community, on July 31, 2023, in Las Vegas, Nevada. As of December 2023, the Reno metro area’s unemployment rate was just 0.2 percentage points above the nation’s 3.7% rate.

Persons: John Simpson, Steve, Sisolak, ” Simpson, It’s, ”, they’re, I’ve, Stephen M, Miller, Mario Tama, Bob Potts, there’s, There’s, Nevadans, Annie E, Casey Foundation’s, Jamelle Nance, Marty Elquist, ” Elquist, “, Andrew Woods, Nicholas Irwin, Start’s Simpson, Irwin, Ethan Miller, Maurice Page, Page, Tesla, ” Potts, Carolyn Cole, Potts, You’ve, you’ve Organizations: CNN, Las, Republican Party, of Labor Statistics, University of Nevada, Lee Business School’s Center for Business, Economic Research, New York, Nevada Governor’s, Economic, Las Vegas, New, Workforce, Children’s, Alliance of Nevada, Education, Development, Silver State, Center for Business, UNLV, Reno, ”, Homes, Nevada Housing Coalition, Harvard University’s, for Housing Studies, Silver, Means, Reno Industrial Park, Apple, Panasonic, Google, Reno Industrial, Los Angeles Times, NCAA, NFL, NFL Pro Bowl Locations: Nevada, Las Vegas, Reno, ” Nevada, State, New York, New, Las, New Mexico, Vegas, “ Nevada, Silver, UNLV . Nevada, California, Sparks, Las Vegas , Nevada, Florida, Hawaii, Clark County, Sparks , Nevada, New Orleans, Denver, Southern Nevada, Northern Nevada, Los Angeles

☆ People are using cash transfers like basic income to pay rent, and it shows just how badly a housing-crisis solution is needed
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-21 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

And a growing number of people who are eligible for government housing assistance aren't getting it. But unlike other government benefits like Medicaid and food stamps, housing aid doesn't automatically go to those who need it. And across 31 pilot basic income programs , recipients spent an average of about 9.2% of their payments on housing and utilities. AdvertisementThe amount that the federal government spends on its housing assistance programs, mainly Housing Choice Vouchers and public housing, is determined by Congress each year. "Housing support across America is very fractured and variable," said Sean Kline, director of Stanford's Basic Income Lab.

Persons: —, doesn't, Matt Desmond, Chris Herbert, Ulbrich, Matt Turner, hasn't, Sean Kline, Matthew Fowle, Fowle, Kline, Herbert Organizations: Service, Homelessness, Business, Urban Institute, Assistance, Columbia University's, Poverty, Princeton, Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, Economic, Congress, Harvard, The New York Times, Department of Housing, Urban Development, Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation, University of Pennsylvania, UPenn's Housing Locations: Washington ,, San Francisco, Davos, America, Philadelphia

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Voters have approved a tax on mansions to pay for affordable housing initiatives in New Mexico's capital city of Santa Fe. Tuesday's vote signals newfound public support for so-called mansion taxes to fund affordable housing and stave off homelessness. The buyer would pay $6,000 to the city’s affordable housing trust fund. Santa Fe voters previously shied away from prominent tax initiatives, rejecting a 1% tax on high-end home sales in 2009 and defeating a tax on sugary drinks to expand early childhood education in 2017. The Santa Fe Association of Realtors has filed a lawsuit aimed at blocking the tax, arguing that it the city overstepped its authority under state law.

Organizations: SANTA FE, —, Voters, Santa Fe, Santa Fe Association of Realtors Locations: SANTA, New Mexico's, Santa Fe, Los Angeles, Chicago, Santa

☆ Opinion | What We Learned From the Deepest Look at Homelessness in Decades
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( The Ezra Klein Show | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The New York Times Audio app includes podcasts, narrated articles from the newsroom and other publishers, as well as exclusive new shows, which we’re making available to readers for a limited time. Download the New York Times Audio app here. The state’s homelessness crisis has become a talking point for Republicans and a warning sign for Democrats in blue cities and states across the country. Last month, the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative at the University of California, San Francisco, released a landmark report about homelessness in the state, drawing from nearly 3,200 questionnaires and 365 in-depth interviews. It is the single deepest study on homelessness in America in decades.

Persons: “, Ezra Klein Organizations: New York Times, Republicans, Initiative, University of California, Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Locations: California, San Francisco, America

☆ 90% of people experiencing homelessness in California are from the state, rather than outsiders moving there for services
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

California is home to 30% of people experiencing homelessness and half of those unsheltered in the US. 90% of unhoused people in California lived in the state before losing their housing, the report found. The state makes up less than 12% of the nation's total population, but is home to 30% of people experiencing homelessness and half of the unsheltered population in the US. In reality, 90% of those experiencing homelessness in California lived in California before losing their housing, according to a major new study from the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative at the University of California, San Francisco. The researchers surveyed 3,200 people across the state and conducted 365 in-depth interviews with adults experiencing homelessness between October 2021 and November 2022.

Persons: —, Dr, Margot Kushel Organizations: Service, Initiative, University of California, UCSF Homeless, Housing Initiative, UCSF Locations: California, San Francisco

☆ It took a progressive Virginia suburb 8 years to let developers build apartments instead of single-family houses. It shows how hard it is to build middle-class housing in the US.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Arlington, Virginia, is finally set to pass a "missing middle" housing policy after years of debate. Arlington is just the latest community to address missing middle housing as a part of a broader national reckoning. Across the country, critics of increasing housing density in single family neighborhoods are disproportionately older, wealthier, white homeowners. Advocates of missing middle housing say there's a deep generational gap when it comes to housing density. Despite the massive effort it took to come to the verge of passing missing middle housing, Arlington officials predict change will be slow and limited.

☆ A tiny-home village with $1,000-a-month rents will allow teachers and firefighters to afford to live in the community they serve
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Kelsey Neubauer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A lack of homes in Dover, New Hampshire has pushed prices up and made housing unaffordable for many. They are building 44 tiny homes that will cost between $1,000 and $1,200 a month to rent. They shouldn't have to live an hour away and then come serve you every day and then drive home." "A lot of affordable-housing projects are killed because of overhead costs," Maggie Randolph told the Concord Monitor. In Colorado, for example, ski towns like Breckenridge — where the ultrawealthy flocked to amid the pandemic — have gotten so expensive that the government is building housing that its snowplow workers can actually afford.

☆ Hong Kong's Lee faces stern test over $3.4 bln bid to ease housing shortage
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Clare Jim | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Hong Kong is notorious for its number of subdivided flats, estimated at 110,000 units at a median area of 124 square feet, smaller than a parking space. The government said the Light Public Housing would help tenants of sub-divided flats, as the rent would be HK$780 to HK$2,650 per month, significantly below the current median of HK$5,000 rent for subdivided flats. "Many people said Hong Kong is an international city, but its living environment is not ideal," Eric Chan, the city's No.2 official, told reporters this week. "Is the government trying to achieve the task (of increasing public housing) at any cost of public money?" ($1 = 7.8490 Hong Kong dollars)Reporting by Clare Jim; Editing by Anne Marie Roantree & Shri NavaratnamOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Amazon discontinues charity donation program amid cost cuts
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Annie Palmer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Amazon said Wednesday it plans to shut down its charity donation program, in the latest example of the company's broader cost-cutting efforts. Through the program, called AmazonSmile, the e-retailer donates a percentage of eligible purchases on the site to the shoppers' chosen charity organization. Amazon said it has donated roughly $500 million to charities since the program launched in 2013. Amazon now plans to wind down AmazonSmile by Feb. 20, the company said in a notice to customers posted to its website. "After almost a decade, the program has not grown to create the impact that we had originally hoped," the company said.

☆ Republicans pitched an economic solution. Now they'll have to deliver.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-19 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Shannon-Pettypiece-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Shannon Pettypiece | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

While Republicans sought to seize on that economic anxiety during the campaign, most candidates provided few specifics. “The GOP still doesn’t know what its economic policy is in a post-Trump world,” said Brian Riedl, who worked for six years as chief economist for Republican Sen. Biden said he has no plans to change his approach to the economy, despite voters’ sentiments, making a shift toward a compromise with Republicans on economic policy seemingly unlikely. “That means there will be a lot less economic policy. “Republicans are going to need to deliver on the economy, especially if the economy is worsening and inflation is worsening,” said Riedl.

☆ California just took a major step to try to solve the housing crisis that's left students 'sleeping in their cars, parking lots or classrooms' in college towns like Santa Cruz
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-16 | by ( Alcynna Lloyd | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

In the city of Santa Cruz, for example, affordable housing is so scarce some University of California students sleep in cars or classrooms. The most notable aims to alleviate California's housing crisis by permitting home construction on non-residential lots previously zoned for retail, offices, and parking. Owens hopes it will also ease the woes of UCSC students who can't find affordable housing on campus. According to the university, UCSC currently has just under 10,000 total spots available in campus housing for undergraduate, graduate and family housing. "A lot of the people who are bidding in Santa Cruz, don't have the income to match what landlords are asking," Owens said.

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