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The Weekly Wrap: Rights Group Ask Justice Department To Investigate War Criminal Visiting D.C.
Welcome back to The Weekly Wrap, our Friday roundup of stories that explain the problems oppressing people in cities and elevate the solutions that bring us closer to economic, environmental and social justice. Have news, resources or events that should be included in this newsletter? Let us know. We’re reachable...
The Plan to Bring Social Housing (Back) to New York
When New York State Assembly member Emily Gallagher moved to Brooklyn in the 2000s, the steady creep of gentrification was impossible to ignore. “I was floored by the reality that I was seeing. I was so disturbed,” says Gallagher, a Democrat who is affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America and the Working Families Party. “How do we stop people being forced out of their homes because there’s new development here?”
How We Stop Discriminating Against Housing Vouchers
Housing vouchers are a federally-funded payment system. They’re used by low-income people to rent a home — any home. Or at least, that’s how it’s supposed to work. While the Fair Housing Act of 1968 offered legal protections against discrimination based on race, religion, sex, and disability, there is nothing in it that says you can’t discriminate against someone based on the source of their income.
Helping Refugees Build Their New Lives in Virginia – Starting With a Driver’s License
Marie, a client of Reestablish Richmond, practices driving in preparation for earning her license. (Photo courtesy ReEstablish Richmond) In the longer term, urbanists advocate for walkable, bikeable cities with robust public transportation and affordable housing close to high-quality employment opportunities. But in the meantime, refugees and immigrants newly arriving in...
What I Saw At the Discover-Capital One Merger Hearing
A Capital One bank in New York City's West Village and Greenwich Village neighborhood.(Photo by Can Pac Swire / CC BY-NC 2.0) This analysis was published as part of The Bottom Line, my weekly newsletter reflecting on the challenges of addressing affordability, inclusive economic growth and access to capital. Subscribe to keep up with what I’m writing, thinking and reading every week.
What Cities Can Learn From How Tokyo and Toronto Approach Transit-Oriented Development
Left: Construction of the future King and Bathurst station, a transit-oriented development project that will be part of Toronto’s Ontario Line. Right: A rendering of the futute King-Bathurst station. (Images courtesy SvN) In my early twenties, I lived in Chofu, a city of over 240,000 people on the west...
Seattle Is Walking Back Its Promises on Community-Led Anti-Displacement. Is Your City Next?
When it launched a first-in-the-nation anti-displacement fund in 2016, Seattle established itself as a leader in racial equity. But a new attack on the City’s Equitable Development Initiative (EDI), part of a national backlash against government efforts to address systemic racism and inequality, threatens that progress. The EDI finances...
Using Vacant Commercial Spaces As Affordable Artist Studios Is a Win-Win
Zero Empty Spaces celebrates the opening of its 26th location in St. Petersburg, Florida, inside Simon Property Group's Tyrone Square Mall, on July 30, 2022 with the initial resident artists of the space. (Photo courtesy Zero Empty Spaces) Since the pandemic, large swaths of office space across the United States...
The Weekly Wrap: Biden Suggests 5% Rent Cap for Federally-Funded Homes but Punts to Congress
Welcome back to The Weekly Wrap, our Friday roundup of stories that explain the problems oppressing people in cities and elevate the solutions that bring us closer to economic, environmental and social justice. Have news, resources or events that you think should be included in this newsletter? Let us know....
How North Carolina’s Vietnamese Refugees Are Helping a New Wave of Afghans Resettle
This story was co-published with Triad City Beat as part of our joint Equitable Cities Reporting Fellowship For Racial Justice Narratives. Life was already chaotic when Mir Habibullah Akhagar and his family arrived in Washington, DC. They were one of hundreds of thousands of Afghan people fleeing the Taliban regime, which took over Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, in Aug. 2021. His family’s evacuation to the U.S. took weeks to coordinate: weeks living in cramped hotel rooms, dodging heavy surveillance and catching long flights to make it to America.
I’ve Been Homeless In Oregon. I Know the Supreme Court’s Ruling Will Only Worsen Homelessness.
When community supervision in Benton County, Oregon enforced homelessness on me, I had two choices: Invest in a tent, car, RV, old school bus, etc., or rent a motel room until my money ran out. My options for motels were limited to The Rodeway Inn or the Super 8, both...
Chicago’s “People’s Cooling Army” Is Giving Tenants Free Air Conditioners
Perhaps the most basic demand of a tenant is that the living space they pay for is, in fact, livable. Yet as extreme heat becomes the norm, organizers claim that for many low-income Chicago renters, this basic condition is not being met. An initiative called the People’s Cooling Army, launched...
Cities Want To Give Workers Heat Breaks. States Are Stopping Them.
This summer’s most recent heat wave has broken temperature records in nearly 50 cities across the southeast. As these blistering temperatures move east, cities across the Northeast are bracing for triple digits while Houston residents are preparing for scorching heat without power. Millions of Americans are suffering under a heat advisory, meaning that exposure to the elements for just an hour or two could severely impact their health. Across the country, cities are encouraging residents to stay inside and are opening up cooling centers wherever possible to help prevent deadly heat stroke.
The Government Is Failing To Meet Refugees’ Basic Needs. We’re Picking Up the Slack.
Yasmeen Zargarpur (center), co-founder of One Community Social Services, stands in front of the organization's warehouse of supplies for resettling refugees. (Photo courtesy One Community Social Services) In the days after the fall of Kabul in August 2021, the U.S. military evacuated tens of thousands of vulnerable Afghans to U.S....
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