Urban H: Housing, Heat and Health

In 2023, heat records were broken on all continents and the world saw the highest global temperatures in over 100,000 years. With buildings and roads retaining heat and creating urban heat islands, warmer cities have not only become increasingly uncomfortable but are also posing health risks such as heat exhaustion and respiratory disorders to their inhabitants. In the US, the 175 largest cities–which account for 65 percent of the total population–have seen a disproportionate number of heat-related deaths in the past 15 years.

Anti-Displacement Ordinance Introduced in Louisville by Tenant Advocates

Tenant leaders and advocates in Louisville, Kentucky, introduced the “Anti-Displacement Fair Housing Ordinance,” also known as the “Historically Black Neighborhoods Ordinance” (HBNO), in August 2023. The first of its kind to be introduced in a southern state, the ordinance aims to address the rampant displacement and gentrification affecting Black communities in low-income neighborhoods in the Louisville metropolitan area.

The Power of One Vote: An Examination of Close Federal, State, and Local U.S. Elections and How Just a Few Votes Can Shape Policy

There is a common belief that voting does not matter because one vote cannot really make a difference. After all, more than 158 million people voted in the 2020 presidential election. In the face of such astronomical numbers, it may not feel that a single vote matters; but the truth is it does. Center for American Progress analysis of election data for U.S. Senate elections from 1976 to January 5, 2021, U.S. House elections from 1976 to 2022, and state office-level returns in 2016 compiled by the MIT Election Lab reveals that while large margins decide many elections, key elections often come down to just a handful of votes.

Who’s Responsible for the Housing Crisis?

Americans love local government. In a December 2023 Pew Research Center survey, 61 percent of respondents had a favorable view of their local government, whereas 77 percent had an unfavorable view of the federal government. But behind this veneer of goodwill is a disturbing truth: Local government is driving a housing crisis that is raising rents, lowering economic mobility and productivity, and negatively impacting wages.

A Teen’s Murder, Mold in the Walls: Unfulfilled Promises Haunt Public Housing

The year before Desaray died, President Joe Biden called for the federal government to spend tens of billions of dollars to fix dilapidated public housing that he said posed “critical life-safety concerns.” The repairs, Biden said, would mostly help people of color, single mothers like Gilliard who work in low-income jobs, and people with disabilities.

How Do We Solve America’s Affordable Housing Crisis? BU Research Helps Inspire a Federal Bill That Suggests Answers

A new federal bill, introduced by Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), aims to solve the crisis by making it easier to peel back local rules that can block new construction—and that are often weaponized by those who don’t want new housing in their backyards. And the bill’s approach was inspired, in part, by Boston University research.

Wausau, bring out the porta potties

At Monday’s Committee of the Whole on homelessness at City Hall, I brought up the lack of portable toilets in our city and noted that providing them would be low-hanging fruit for the city council to help people in need. In regard to this week’s Committee of the Whole, a professor at Boston University, Dr. Katherine Levine Einstein, sent a letter addressed to the Wausau City Council, which is embedded at the bottom of this column.

In studying business gentrification, of course size matters

Our recent study measured business closings and openings in Central Square between 2013 and 2023 as a way to understand commercial gentrification – the replacement of lower-value businesses with higher-value ones. In the study, we categorized businesses by their size: independent businesses or local, regional, national and international chains.