Until recently, New York City's local housing vouchers only covered about $1,250 in rent; the median rent on a NYC apartment is $2,600. Activism from current and formerly homeless New Yorkers helped change that.

Milton Perez has spent years in New York’s shelter system, often sleeping in dormitory-style rooms with up to 20 other people and just three or four feet of space on either side of his bed. Last May, as part of the city’s emergency response to the Covid-19 pandemic, he moved into a hotel in Brownsville, a neighborhood in Brooklyn, where he now has one roommate and quite a bit more space. Then in June, he secured a housing voucher through a program called CityFHEPS, short for Family Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement.
Theoretically that voucher would allow him to find an apartment on the private market. But the maximum rent it covers is so limited — $1,265 a month for a single person — that Perez has been unable to put the voucher to use. The median rent in New York is $2,600, according to StreetEasy; the only apartments that rent for as low as $1,265 a month are the ones that developers of new buildings are required to set aside for low-income tenants, Perez says, and those units are still scarce. In fact, according to a report in City Limits, only 4-5% of voucher recipients are able to secure an apartment.
“If you’re lucky enough to find a low-income [unit], you won the lottery,” Perez says.
Last year, Perez began working with the group VOCAL-NY on a campaign to get the city to raise the amount of rent that the CityFHEPS program would cover. VOCAL-NY and a coalition of housing and homelessness groups pushed to get the city to match the subsidies in the federal Section 8 voucher program, which covers up to $1,945 a month for a single person in New York. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio reportedly said he wouldn’t support the effort until the state committed to raising the limits on its own version of the vouchers, which have separate eligibility requirements. But advocates say they’ve had a veto-proof majority of the city council in support of the bill for months. And in May, the council finally voted to approve the bill, known as Intro 146, by a vote of 46-2.
FULL STORY: Homeless New Yorkers Lead a Push for Better Rental Vouchers

Four ‘Low-Hanging Fruit’ Zoning Reforms
An excerpt from the latest book on zoning argues for four approaches to reform that can immediately improve land use regulation in the United States.

San Francisco Just Ended Single-Family Zoning
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to Tuesday to eliminate single-family zoning, but pro-development advocates say additional changes are needed to unleash a wave of construction.

U.S. Rental Market Crosses a New Threshold of Affordability
In a first for the country's rental market, most U.S. apartments are asking for more than $2,000 to rent, according to data recently published by Redfin.

Supreme Court Guts the U.S. EPA’s Ability to Limit Carbon Emissions
The consequences of this ruling have long been foretold. With the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency now officially barred from the fight against climate change, Congress will have to act to reduce carbon emissions.

California Approves Revised Los Angeles Housing Element
State officials officially approved the city’s housing plan, which was initially rejected for not doing enough to enhance housing equity.

Lawsuit Could Open Public Access to Colorado Rivers
Colorado is one of few U.S. states that has decided that private property owners supersede the public when it comes to access to rivers and streams.
Town of San Anselmo
Palm Beach Transportation Planning Agency (TPA)
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Harvard Graduate School of Design Executive Education
Harvard Graduate School of Design Executive Education
City of Apache Junction
City of Helena
Gallatin County, Montana
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Hand Drawing Master Plans
This course aims to provide an introduction into Urban Design Sketching focused on how to hand draw master plans using a mix of colored markers.