January 12, 2023

California civil rights officials filed a lawsuit against two Sacramento landlords alleging Section 8 discrimination. This is the first lawsuit the state’s civil rights department has pursued following the passage of a 2020 law that made it illegal for landlords to refuse to accept tenants who pay with subsidies like Section 8. The lawsuit alleges that the landlords illegally evicted their tenant, Alysia Gonsalves, harassed her, threatened her with violence, and unlawfully locked her out of her home.

New York City Housing Authority’s Cooper Park Houses in North Brooklyn’s industrial corridor has been plagued by decades of industrial pollution, which the community believes caused many of their debilitating health problems. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report found that roughly 30 percent of residents in the census tract where Cooper Park is located report having “poor health”—double the area’s average.

Veteran homelessness has dropped 11 percent since 2020, and many attribute it to Housing First—the provision of housing plus wraparound services. Kathryn Monet, CEO of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, says once people secure housing, it’s easier to address other issues, so it’s a good investment. Now, the biggest challenge is finding homes amid a nationwide shortage.

In 2019, the Evanston, Illinois, city council established a reparations program to grant Black residents a $25,000 housing voucher if they could show that they or their ancestors lived in Evanston between 1919 and 1969, when the city enforced segregation. But the money can only be used for buying or repairing a home, leaving out many the city’s Black residents who are renters. Evanston has only spent $400,000 of the $10 million promised on 16 residents. Officials are hopeful the program can begin rectifying decades of housing discrimination.