How The Twin Cities Mayors Diverge on Policing and Race While Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey faces scrutiny over policing and racial equity issues, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter has helped his city achieve progressive milestones, say lawmakers and advocates. Cinnamon Janzer
Ed Gainey Wins Democratic Nomination for Pittsburgh Mayor The state representative will almost certainly be the city’s first Black mayor, and his victory follows a year of nationwide social upheaval over police and racial justice issues. Joshua Vaughn
How Demands for Affordable Housing Are Defining Pittsburgh’s Mayoral Race A disproportionate number of Black residents have left the city, and advocates say the next mayor needs to ensure greater access to housing. Joshua Vaughn
Aftab Pureval and David Mann Win Cincinnati Mayoral Primary The candidates—who didn’t support an affordable housing investment that was rejected by voters today—now advance to the November ballot. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Cincinnati’s Upcoming Mayoral Race is ‘Make or Break’ for Policing and Housing True public safety, advocates say, is one of the most urgent issues facing Cincinnati voters ahead of Tuesday’s primary election. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
The Major Real Estate Donors Influencing the St. Louis Mayoral Race Days before the election, campaign finance reports show that real-estate and construction industries favor Cara Spencer over Tishaura Jones. Jerry Iannelli
How Teri Castillo Plans to Protect San Antonio From ‘Salivating’ Housing Developers The housing advocate’s run for city council could be a Texan litmus test for the broad appeal of policies popular with working class voters. Eoin Higgins
Washington State’s Most Populous County Curbed Covid-19 Among The Homeless By Moving Them To Hotels. But One Local Government Fought Back. Seattle suburb Renton is battling an emergency homeless shelter through its zoning code. Rachel M. Cohen
Esther Agbaje Wants to Solve ‘The Million Dollar Question’ of Racial Disparities Across Minnesota If she wins at the ballot box in November, Agbaje would become the state’s first Nigerian American state legislator. Dawn R. Wolfe
Athena Hollins Takes On Public Safety, Housing, And Affordable Child Care In Her Run For The Minnesota House When it comes to public safety, Hollins doesn’t want to stop with reallocating police funding. She’d like her state to track both proven and alleged instances of police misconduct. Dawn R. Wolfe
Santa Cruz County Grand Jury Homelessness Report Calls for Defunding of Police A June report from the county’s independent judicial arm urges local government to reallocate law enforcement resources to social services. Ella Fassler
New York City’s Public Housing Rules Could Force Many Released Prisoners Into Homelessness As thousands of people are freed from local jails, a group of nonprofits and activist organizations says the city's housing authority must revamp its policies that banish the formerly incarcerated. Jerry Iannelli
People Are About To Be Pushed Into Homelessness On A Large Scale. Hotels Are Key To Keeping Them Off The Streets. Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County are at high risk for becoming homeless after the temporary halt on evictions is lifted—one of the largest mass displacements the region has ever seen. Ananya Roy, Jonny Coleman
Florida Residents Trapped In Substandard Housing Face A New Threat: An Eviction Moratorium Set To Expire In Weeks. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed Florida lawmakers’ failure to build affordable housing for its residents. Jerry Iannelli
The Case For Universal Rental Assistance Expansion of an existing federal rental subsidy program, the Housing Choice Voucher, could stabilize housing for millions of households. Kirk McClure, Alex F. Schwartz
Austin Braces As Texas Officials Plan Crackdown On Homeless Encampments Last week, the City Council reinstated a “no camping” ordinance meant to discourage people experiencing homelessness from sleeping on sidewalks and outside a shelter. Advocates say the city is criminalizing poverty. Aaron Morrison