Marc Jahr and Geeta Rao discuss New York City’s Housing Development Corporation model financing affordable housing and the opportunities the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority can unlock following the successful passage of a bond measure.

Connecting the dots from slavery to Jim Crow, to voter disenfranchisement and the reasons present-day persistent poverty counties and areas of deep disadvantage in rural America overlap so heavily with communities of color.

In its 50 years of existence, the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program has been immensely valuable for low-income households across the United States. Last year, the HCV program subsidized the cost of rental housing for over 2.4 million households. To take a closer look at the federal government’s largest form of rental assistance, Enterprise Community Partners published a new paper, Unlocking Housing Choice: Limitations and Opportunities in the Housing Choice Voucher Program.

Homeward Central Harlem, which opened its doors in late 2023, is the nonprofit Homeward NYC’s third supportive housing development tailored to LGBTQ+ young adults between the ages of 18 and 25. The compact and modern nine-story building, sandwiched between two larger apartment buildings on a quiet street, includes 50 studio apartments as well as common gathering spaces with brightly colored furniture and accent walls. Staff provide services ranging from mental health counseling to job search training. Homeward Central Harlem also offers something less tangible: A place to recover, breathe, and chart a fresh start.