As housing pressure rises, planners seek public’s help

On Thursday, June 26, the Planning Department will host a public workshop at William Hall Library, focused on housing and traffic safety. The event is part of Phase 2 of the city’s Comprehensive Plan update, which emphasizes public engagement and will guide land use and development in Cranston for the next 20 years.

Housing and the Pitfalls of Public Meetings

Wilson’s principle is being tested right now in Seattle, where Mayor Bruce Harrell has proposed an update to the city’s Comprehensive Plan that, among other things, would create as many as 30 “neighborhood centers,” a new zoning type that would allow multifamily housing in areas with a concentration of single-family homes.

Do Forest Carbon Credits Work and Actually Help the Environment?

It takes a lot of fuel to get an airplane up in the sky and keep it there—which means a lot of emissions. In fact, the airline industry produces more greenhouse gases than many major countries. Most airlines know this isn’t a good look, so they are pushing for cleaner fuels—and offering passengers the chance to help them offset a flight’s carbon emissions. Book a trip with a big carrier and you might be asked if you want to invest in forest preservation, saving enough trees to soak up your jet-setting’s environmental emissions.

Build housing on public land? Yes, if it’s done right.

The Trump administration’s Joint Task Force on Federal Land for Housing is setting out to tackle a real issue in a promising way: America is in a housing crisis, and public lands are a viable path for narrowing the gap between housing supply and demand.

Why Massachusetts women have fewer children and Trump’s $5,000 ‘baby bonus’ won’t help

Experts caution that much of the nuance gets lost in the political noise. To better understand what’s behind Massachusetts’ baby bust — and whether proposals like President Trump’s suggested $5,000 “baby bonus” could reverse it — the Globe spoke with leading demographers, epidemiologists, and public health researchers. These experts point not to a single cause, but to a tangle of interwoven factors — some personal, others structural.

The links between unstable housing and health

Children and their caregivers who live in unstable housing situations are more likely to have health-related issues than their more financially stable peers.

That was keynote speaker Stephanie Ettinger de Cuba’s main message at Polk County Housing Trust Fund’s recent Housing Matters Symposium.

“Families struggling to pay rent or are being evicted experience [poor health] in both the children and their parents,” Ettinger de Cuba said. “They are not getting the attention they need because they cannot afford it.”

Public Meetings Privilege Housing Opponents — Here’s How to Fix It

Seattle’s City Council has been pushing more public meetings for the Comprehensive Plan and rezone process — despite significant outreach that the City has already carried out. Research shows that public meetings systematically and structurally privileges wealthier, older homeowners, and even indicates that the public meeting process cannot be easily reformed.

Priced out: How Boston’s college housing crunch displaces longtime residents

Stacy Fox, executive director of the Boston University Initiative on Cities, leads university-wide programs and research focused on urban policy, governance and community engagement. “There’s an increased demand for housing, which impacts the rental prices,” Fox said. “A group of students who want to live together might be more able to pay higher rents than a family who lives nearby, and this can sometimes lead to displacement of long-time residents.”