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Urban Institute insights and analysis inform national reporting
A woman and her four young children unload grocery bags around a kitchen island.
Greg Acs, vice president for the Tax and Income Supports Division at the Urban Institute, spoke with Virginia Public Media about the risks of addressing affordability in a zero-sum context that focuses on who bears the short-term costs of a policy instead of its potential for growth.
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  • A busy urban skyline on a cloudy day, with lots of people walking and cars visible on the street and parked, with a public train heading toward the camera.
    Yonah Freemark on how strained budgets are affecting local transit plans
    Facing uncertainty with federal public transportation funding, state and local governments are looking for ways to fill the gaps.
  • An anxious-looking woman in blue slacks and a pale pink button-down shirt sits with her hands clasped together on an exam chair in a doctor's office.
    John Holahan discusses rising federal employee health care premiums
    The Federal Employees Health Benefits Program insures more than 8.2 million federal government employees and retirees. But premium payments increased this past year and are expected to jump again in 2026.
  • A muralist in a red shirt and straw hat stands on a short wooden ladder, holding a palette in one hand and a paintbrush in the other, adding on to a mural of colorful homes.
    Brett Theodos on Opportunity Zone investments
    Created in 2017, the Opportunity Zone program was intended to spur private investment toward low-income communities. Since then, the program has been made permanent, with added compliance and reporting standards to better evaluate the program’s outcomes.
  • A bowl of soup, ladled from a large, metal pot sitting next to a plastic bag of limes, is handed from one person to another.
    Poonam Gupta on food insecurity outpacing inflation
    As food and grocery prices increase, so do reports of food insecurity among Americans nationwide.
  • A young woman in a long, tan trench coat, blue jeans, and a dark red scarf steps aboard a public train from a covered platform.
    Yonah Freemark discusses benefits of transit-oriented housing
    Yonah Freemark, an urban development and transportation expert at the Urban Institute, spoke with the Associated Press about how developing housing near public transit can efficiently address both affordable housing shortages and the effects of increased car traffic.
  • A blonde woman in a colorful jacket paints a multicolored mural on an outside wall.
    Brett Theodos and Brady Meixell on maximizing Opportunity Zones’ impact
    The Opportunity Zone program was created in 2017 to encourage investment and economic growth in low-income communities. The program became permanent this year, and governors and state chief executives nationwide are beginning to select the next round of Opportunity Zones.