The city’s minimum wage increases will be tied to the Consumer Price Index and local market housing costs.
The Santa Fe City Council voted to start calculating minimum wage increases based on the Consumer Price Index and, for the first time for a U.S. city, housing costs, reports John Miller in Albuquerque Journal. The city will raise its minimum wage to $17.50 per hour in 2027 and begin using the new calculation for future wage increases.
Since 2003, the city has had an annual minimum wage increase tied to the CPI, which amounted to a small change each year that Cathy Garcia, a local organizer, called “wildly insufficient.” Santa Fe’s housing market is one of the country’s more expensive, with a median home price of $600,000 and double-digit rent increases since the pandemic.
FULL STORY: With new ordinance, Santa Fe becomes first city to tie minimum wage to rental costs
‘Residual Income’ Study Reveals Two-Thirds of Working Age Renters Struggle to Make Ends Meet
Half of U.S. renters are considered ‘rent burdened,’ but an even larger number of households have a hard time affording basic necessities after rent.
Alexandria eviction diversion program will let tenants pay back rent in installments
Eligible tenants will be allowed to make a 10% down payment on the back rent they owe and pay off the rest in installments while remaining in their home.
Indianapolis rents grew by 30% since 2020
The metro area has a shortage of roughly 137,000 affordable homes for the lowest-income households.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
Baltimore to break ground on $50 million Transit Priority Project
The project will bring faster bus trips, safer streets and better bike connections to Baltimore.
Airbnb launches $250 million 'last-dollar financing' housing accelerator, makes first investment in Austin
The company will put $6.4 million towards affordable housing development in Texas’ capital.
Guerilla urbanists are building DIY bus stop benches in Chicago
A before-and-after of one of the bus stops with a new bench. The new benches are not officially sanctioned or permitted, but the residents who placed them hope they will be the start of a network of DIY benches across the city.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association