Recent research of a Denver public housing program that assigns low-income families to a variety of neighborhoods found that black and Hispanic teenagers who live in mixed-income neighborhoods are less likely to drop out of school than those living in predominantly lower-income ones. George Galster, a professor of urban affairs at Wayne State University, and his co-authors found that economic desegregation can improve the educational outcomes of low-income students of c...

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) recently estimated the cost of renewing all housing vouchers in 2017 at $18.86 billion. Rents are rising at over 3 percent per year while the 2017 cost-of-living adjustments for seniors and people with disabilities with fixed incomes, who make up about half of the households using vouchers, will be just 0.3 percent. 

A study published in Housing Policy Debate entitled “The Characteristics and Unmet Housing Program Needs of Disabled HUD-Assisted Households” finds a mismatch between the housing needs of people with a disability and HUD programs. According to the study, 70 percent of extremely low-income (ELI) households with a disability are not served by HUD programs, and a high percentage of those who receive HUD assistance still have unmet accessibility needs.

Senators Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) recently reintroduced legislation requiring tenant surveys by HUD in response to what they call “deplorable living conditions at several subsidized-housing properties in Florida.”

The bill would require HUD Project-Based Contract Administrators to survey tenants at sites with Housing Assistance Payment contracts twice a year about site conditions and management in order to identify consistent or persis...

Earlier this month the Insider conducted an informal reader survey to find out what changes assisted housing professionals expect with the new administration. We received 188 responses. A PDF showing the full results in chart and table form is available here. Highlights are:

The Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee recently held a hearing to consider the nomination of Dr. Ben Carson to serve as HUD secretary. In his testimony, Dr. Carson spoke about his experience living in poverty in Detroit and Boston. “I grew up in inner city Detroit with a single mother who had a third grade education, but who worked numerous jobs to keep a roof over our heads and to put food on our table. I understand housing insecurity,” he...

On the same day as Dr. Ben Carson’s confirmation hearings, Representative Paul Gosar (R-AZ) introduced H.R. 482 and Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced a companion bill, S. 103. Both bills are titled the “Local Zoning Decisions Protection Act of 2017.” The bills would nullify the new Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) regulation and the Assessment Tools associated with the rule.

The New York City Commission on Human Rights kicked off the New Year by charging five large landlords and brokerage firms with repeatedly discriminating against prospects based on their lawful source of income, a violation of the city’s Human Rights Law. Together, the landlords and brokerage firms control approximately 20,000 units citywide, according to the commission.

The Senate recently approved a House-passed continuing resolution (CR) to keep the federal government funded through April 28, 2017, and sent it to President Obama’s desk for signature. The CR was approved by a vote of 63 to 36 in the Senate and 326 to 96 in the House.

HUD recently released the Community Assessment Reporting Tool (CART). CART is a reference and mapping tool created to help answer the question, "How is HUD investing in my community?" CART uses geospatial technology to show the wide variety of HUD investments by city, state, county, metropolitan area, or congressional district. It also provides an interactive mapping interface that allows users to explore HUD investments within their community and see property...