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Today (September 18), renters in more than 45 U.S. cities kicked off “Renter Week of Action,” a week of direct actions aimed at addressing rent increases, mass evictions and cuts to the U.S.Department of Housing and Urban Development. Right To The City

L.A.'s Housing Crisis Is Now the Nation's Housing Crisis

Crossposted from LA Weekly

The impact of Los Angeles' postrecession housing crisis became clear in 2014, when a UCLA report found that L.A. is "the most unaffordable rental market" in the United States. Since then, L.A. has seen renters become the majority of households in the market. And earlier this year, a report marked a 23 percent rise in homelessness  countywide, a number that some experts say is directly tied to out-of-reach rents.

To kick off an awareness campaign called the Renter Week of Action this week, a number of organizations released an analysis of the city's and nation's increasing rent burdens, noting in a summary that renters from coast to coast now "face a toxic mix of rising rents and stagnant wages."

September 2017

When Renters Rise, Cities Thrive: National and City Fact Sheets

Overview

Renters now represent the majority in the nation’s 100 largest cities, and contribute billions to local economies. Yet renters face a toxic mix of rising rents and stagnant wages, both of which add up to an unprecedented affordability crisis that stymies their ability to contribute to the broader economy and thrive. This analysis, produced in support of the Renter Week of Action occurring September 16-24, reveals what renters and the nation stand to gain from addressing this crisis. We find that nationwide, if renters paid only what was affordable for housing, they would have $124 billion extra to spend in the community every year, or $6,200 per rent-burdened household. Download the national fact sheet and press release.

You can also download fact sheets for the following cities: Alameda, Atlanta, Baltimore, Birmingham, Boston, Bowling Green (KY), Brooklyn, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Durham, El Paso, Jackson, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Lynn (MA), Miami, Minneapolis, Nashville, Newark, New York, Oakland, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Portland, Providence, Reno, Rochester, San Diego, Santa Ana, Santa Barbara, Santa Rosa, Seattle, Spokane, Springfield (MA), St. Paul, Washington DC.

As Silicon Valley, my home and place of work, dreams up what's next, so, too, does the world dream up the next Silicon Valley.

September 2017

Powering Health Equity Action with Online Data Tools: 10 Design Principles

Overview

Online data tools hold tremendous power to amplify community efforts to advance health equity through policy and systems change. In the spirit of nurturing the growing equity data field and contributing to its evolution, this report, developed in partnership with Ecotrust, offers up a set of 10 design principles for online data tools intended to spur health equity action. The principles include addressing the root causes of health inequities, disaggregating data, and honoring indigenous data sovereignty. For the full list and examples of each principle, download the report here.

In the course of a few weeks, the United States was hit by two “storms of the century.” Images of residents coping with the devastation wrought by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma conjured up memories of Hurricane Katrina’s hellish aftermath 12 years ago — parents wading through floodwaters holding children, families seeking shelter in the main convention center, and government officials acting with uncertainty about what the future holds.

The Mayor and at least three members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors are working on proposals to offer financial compensation to merchants impacted by city projects, notably those in Chinatown near the Central Subway construction.

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee has proposed the city adopt a construction-mitigation program, favoring businesses negatively affected by city construction.

One prime example: The ongoing Central Subway with grants of up to $10,000 to make up for lost revenue during the working period.

f the five biggest U.S. metros were all countries, they’d be among the top 30 largest national economies in the world. The New York City metro area would be the 10th largest global economy, just ahead of Canada. The Los Angeles metro area would be 18th, just ahead of Turkey. Chicagoland would be 22nd. When you take that into consideration, it starts to make sense that U.S. cities could themselves contribute a lot toward global aims like the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

September 2017

America's Tomorrow Newsletter, September 7

Overview

Through Outreach and Education, Seattle Empowers Workers and Employers to Embrace Fair Labor Standards

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