October 06, 2022

The Tucson City Council unanimously approved a new measure that bans housing discrimination based on income source. Although landlords can still use other criteria, such as criminal history and previous evictions, in deciding who to rent to, they no longer can base their decision on whether someone receives housing assistance.

Addressing homelessness experienced by children and families in rural areas can be particularly challenging. With very few resources available, schools sometimes offer the only relief to families experiencing homelessness. School homeless liaisons are a resource that can help identify, coordinate, and deliver any resources available. Their reports, aggregated by the US Department of Education, represent a crucial and rare effort to quantify the problem of student homelessness, especially in rural areas.

Rising mortgage rates and high home prices are keeping homeownership out of reach for many Americans. According to Gary Acosta, chief executive of National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals, the housing crisis has been especially hard for Latinx buyers, who are largely buying their first home. “It is a very, very tough time for first-time homebuyers and it’s going to be tough for probably the better part of a year, and even more so for the Latino community,” said Acosta.

Many prospective homebuyers are putting homeownership on the back burner and turning to new homes in rental-only communities. These “build-to-rent” developments are gaining traction as home sales continue to fall. The influx of new rental homes could help fill housing stock gaps, but many critics say the new rental units will make homeownership even more elusive.