Tag: housing

I never fully appreciated the meaning hidden in a snatch of a phone conversation I overheard when I was 23 between my mother and her older sister, my Aunt G.R., until I held several black and white photos in my hands two decades later.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Buoyed by a large budget surplus and swimming in federal pandemic recovery money, California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday proposed $12 billion to get more people experiencing homelessness off the streets and into homes of their own.

Today's typical Black household has only about 23% of the wealth of a typical white household, down from 34.6% before the Great Recession. Housing factors -- including lower home values and rates of homeownership -- directly account for nearly 40%2 of that gap, with assets like investments in stocks and bonds and retirement accounts making up the rest.

While the tireless work of medical professionals, teachers and grocery store workers has rightfully been celebrated throughout the pandemic, you may be less familiar with the work of housing counselors. During a challenging year that exacerbated the U.S. housing crisis, those close to the situation say that housing counselors are the pandemic’s unsung heroes.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced last July that New York would spend $100 million in federal coronavirus relief to help cash-strapped tenants pay months of back rent and avert evictions.