The Homevoter Hypothesis: A New Generation Gap?
We know that older people vote more than younger people and that homeowners vote more than renters; but are older homeowners, as a class, overrepresented in local elections? Katherine Levine Einstein, Maxwell Palmer, Ellis Hamilton, and Ethan Singer analyzed the intersections of age, race, home tenure, and election scheduling to find out, publishing their findings as The Gray Vote: How Older Home-Owning Voters Dominate Local Elections.
Diagnosing the youth mental health crisis? Don’t forget housing and extreme heat
The City of Boston recently announced a new $21 million initiative to address the urgent need for more mental health services and programs for youth and families. This announcement follows a report from the Boston Public Health Commission detailing how widespread persistent sadness and anxiety has become amongst youth and adults. And the problem is growing. Between 2015 and 2021, youth in Boston experiencing persistent sadness steadily increased from 26.7 percent to 43.9 percent.
What the Supreme Court case on tent encampments could mean for homeless people
Associate Professor and IOC Faculty Affiliate Katherine Levine Einstein was featured in Vox, speaking on the Supreme Court case Grants Pass v. Johnson. According to Professor Einstein, “Using this very reactive and criminalizing approach for homelessness may actually be more expensive than engaging in long-term preventative planning.”
Ending Homelessness in America Feels Impossible. Is It? | Top of Mind with Julie Rose – Season 2024, Episode 13
Associate Professor and IOC Faculty Affiliate Katherine Levine Einstein was featured on journalist Julie Rose’s podcast “Top of Mind,” a production of BYUradio. Joined by Cuica Montoya, senior director of homelessness programs at the Colorado Village Collaborative, Marc Eichenbaum, special assistant to the mayor for homelessness initiative in Houston, and Elizabeth Funk, founder and CEO of DignityMoves, the four guests offered a variety of perspectives on homelessness, with Einstein offering commentary on we aren’t building more housing.
What’s stifling city climate action? Municipal finance practices, one report says
Claudia Diezmartínez wants city officials to be more curious about how local climate programs are funded. The funding process is shaping which projects cities pursue and who they benefit, according to a February 2024 Nature Climate Change paper co-authored by Diezmartínez, a Ph.D. candidate at Boston University.
What mayors really think about the Inflation Reduction Act
About a year after President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law, a group of Boston University researchers set out in the summer of 2023 to better understand mayors’ experiences with the landmark climate legislation.
Mayors express uncertainty about inflation bill’s climate change efforts in national survey
When the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was signed into law on Aug. 16, 2022, the White House referred to it as “the most significant action Congress has taken on clean energy and climate change in the nation’s history.” But the majority of mayors said its impact has been marginal in a report conducted by the Boston University Initiative on Cities.
US Mayors Cite Red Tape as One Factor in Slowing Clean Energy Projects, BU Researchers Find
More than half of US mayors—6 out of 10—saw little or no impact from the Inflation Reduction Act in the first year after its passage, attributing the unimpressive imprint of one of President Biden’s signature legislative achievements to the challenging grant application process and the public’s lack of familiarity with its details. That is one of the takeaways in the 2023 Menino Survey of Mayors by Boston University’s Initiative on Cities (IOC).
2023 Menino Survey of Mayors: Building for a Green Future
Passed in 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) features unprecedented federal investment in environmental initiatives. It provides around $370 billion in resources for clean energy technology. To better understand local communities’ experience of the IRA, Boston University’s Initiative on Cities surveyed a nationally representative sample of 118 mayors leading cities. These interviews give us insights into mayoral experiences, as well as the experiences of individual households trying to access IRA resources.
There are even fewer affordable apartments in Massachusetts than we thought, according to new data
A new, publicly-available database is backing up what many frustrated Massachusetts residents already know: the state’s shortage of affordable housing is even worse than previously known. The data dashboard was released Tuesday by the nonprofit group Housing Navigator Massachusetts, which also runs an online search tool intended to help renters find affordable housing options.