June 27, 2019

This week, President Trump signed an executive order that establishes a council that will identify and study the effect of regulatory barriers to creating affordable housing, such as exclusionary local zoning laws. The council, to be headed by US Department of Housing and Urban Development secretary Ben Carson, will provide policy recommendations by 2021.

The US doesn’t have enough rental housing—and as more higher-income people rent, much of the new construction is higher-cost—meaning that lower-income renters are boxed out, finds the new State of the Nation’s Housing report produced by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. It also highlights that many renters are cost burdened and that homelessness increased for the second year in a row, among other findings.

On Monday, Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms revealed a new affordable housing plan, which offers policy proposals and a $1 billion investment of public and private funds to fight increasing housing costs and residential displacement. To accomplish these goals, Bottoms must navigate funding decisions, state and federal agencies, developers, and others, and she must also get the city council on board to pass zoning changes.

Thousands of Bay Area residents who live in “unconventional housing,” such as trailers, converted garages, and even rented tents in backyards, run the risk of not being counted in the 2020 Census. Counties and nonprofits in the area are already strategizing ways to reach hard-to-count populations, as the consequence for undercounting is a county losing about $2,000 in federal funding annually per uncounted person. San Jose lost out on $200 million in federal dollars after the 2010 Census.

A new study by the Hope Center found that housing costs can be one of the biggest burdens for college students—particularly community college students, one in five of whom experienced homelessness in the past year, and up to 60 percent of whom were housing insecure. For some, the cost of attending community college can be less affordable that attending four-year colleges, as community colleges have no on-campus housing options and off-campus rents can be high. “We tell our California youth that in order for them to succeed they need to get a college education. It is outrageous that in striving to attain that very degree, many of our students are forced into homelessness,” said state senator Richard Roth.