Press Room

The shortage of housing that is affordable for the lowest income families grew significantly between 2007 and 2008, according to an analysis of 2008 American Community Survey data done by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC). In 2007, the shortage of homes affordable for extremely low income renter households (those earning 30% or less of their area median income) was 2.7 million. The shortage grew to 3.1 million homes in 2008.

On this day after over-stuffed Thanksgiving dinners when recession-minded consumers began their annual pre-Christmas holiday shopping sprees, the homeless have no choice but trying to survive without the resources that many enjoy.

On Valentine's Day, Joshua Colon was kicked out of the crowded Humboldt Park apartment he shared with seven siblings and a parent. He cycled through friends' homes before finally moving into a housing program run by La Casa Norte, a Humboldt Park organization that helps homeless youth and at-risk families. Today, the 17-year-old lives in what is comparable to a dorm room. But it's all his own.

The Jericho Project broke ground on supportive housing for homeless and low-income vets in Kingsbridge Heights Nov. 10, just in time for Veteran’s Day. The 76-unit, six-story facility at 2701 Kingsbridge Terrace — cattycornered with the Veteran’s Affairs hospital — is projected to open in early 2011 at a cost of $20.6 million.

A new study reinforces the concept that providing supportive housing to homeless people with disabilities is less costly and better for the individual than providing no assistance.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has announced $3.7 million in federal funding to expand its Reclaiming Futures initiative, which was launched in 2002 to help young people break the cycle of drugs, alcohol, and crime.

Under rules adopted by Philadelphia’s primary civil court, no owner-occupied house may be foreclosed on and sold by the sheriff’s office before a “conciliation conference,” a face-to-face meeting between the homeowner and the lender aimed at striking a workable compromise. Every homeowner facing a default filing is furnished with counseling, and sometimes legal representation.

Local affiliates of Habitat for Humanity are looking to share mortgage servicing, pre-construction services, advertising, public-relations and other functions. The Charlotte Rescue Mission and United Family Services are building facilities for women on the same site. They’re also studying ways to trim their expenses by working together in developing the tract. And an initiative known as Project Hope has brought together four agencies to help individuals living in long-term poverty find affordable housing. These efforts represent what community leaders believe can become a broader re-engineering of the Charlotte region’s nonprofit sector. And they hope to speed that process by making strategic investments in nonprofits’ innovation and collaboration.

Minneapolis city leaders broke ground yesterday for Nicollet Square, an innovative $9.2 million model of supportive housing and employment to help young adults transition out of homelessness or foster care to become independent and economically self-sufficient. The project, located at 3700 Nicollet Avenue, is one of seven projects in Minnesota selected for federal stimulus funds from the Tax Credit Exchange Program. Plymouth Church Neighborhood Foundation is the developer.

There were not many people packed in to the Los Angeles "town hall" meeting who had heard of the foreign woman with the unfamiliar title who had come to listen to their tales of plight. But many took it as a good sign that she had worried the last American government enough for it to keep her out of the country.