On July 14, 2009, HUD Secretary Shaun Donavon outlined the administration's plans to reform the Hope VI program and the goals for the new Choice Neighborhoods Initiative. The initiative aims to include private and nonprofit partners in local projects to extend neighborhood transformation efforts beyond public housing and link housing developments more closely with school reform and early childhood innovation.

Representative Barney Frank recently released a discussion draft of comprehensive legislation to preserve affordable housing. The legislative proposal aims to prevent displacement of low-income, elderly, and disabled tenants. It will focus equally on both rural and urban housing needs. Rep. Frank stated that these policies will move in conjunction with other efforts to promote the Affordable Housing Trust Fund and voucher program.

Last month the Section 8 Voucher Reform Act was introduced in the House. H.R. 3045 would streamline and make improvements to the Housing Choice Voucher program and authorize 150,000 new vouchers in fiscal year (FY) 2010.

Check for data on families with kids: HUD’s new report provides a point-in-time estimate of the total number of homeless persons on a single night, as well as a one-year estimate of the total sheltered homeless population. The point-in-time survey showed that on a single night in January 2008, over 664,000 persons were homeless nationwide.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities argues that on a dollar-for-dollar basis, temporary increases in safety net programs like food stamps and unemployment insurance and fiscal relief to states are among the most effective job-creation investments in the proposed Obama recovery package, accounting for nearly two-fifths of the jobs generated by the package in 2009 and 2010, even though the amounts spent in these areas would likely be much smaller than two-fifths of the cost of the package.

In California, the journey from parent to activist starts at home: the Los Angeles Community Action Network won a citywide law to preserve affordable housing in residential hotels targeted for luxury development.

What’s happening to our ’hoods? Middle-class neighborhoods and housing is shrinking faster than the middle class itself, according to a new Brookings Institution report. City neighborhoods are increasingly segregated with low-income and very low-income families living in concentrated neighborhoods, and high- and very high-income families living together. Middle-income neighborhoods as a proportion of all metropolitan neighborhoods declined from 58 percent in 1970 to 41 percent in 2000. The resulting inability to move into middle-income neighborhoods may limit working families’ access to jobs, decent health care, safe neighborhoods, and adequate political representation, according to the report.

Despite the emphasis on homeownership, one-third of all U.S. households (nearly 36 million households) rent. This report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition offers a state-by-state and community comparison of the hourly wage someone must earn to be able to afford rent and utilities in local housing markets.

Overall, Indiana has had a dramatic increase in the number of people in poverty during the past few years. Kids have been particularly hard-hit: poverty rate for children in Indiana jumped sharply from 10.5 percent in 2002 to 18.5 percent in 2004, greater than the national average of 17.8 percent. And the number of families struggling to pay for basic needs like as food, housing and child care is even higher than the poverty rate indicates. The Indiana Coalition on Housing and Homeless Issues and the Indiana Institute for Working Families have issued a new report on jobs, wages, incomes, and poverty in the state—with information that advocates and concerned adults in other states may find useful.

Provides information on family services, family child care homes, adoption, scholarships, elder care, volunteers, and non-profit spouse clubs. A helpful source of information on programs, and eligibility requirements for the US Coast Guard.