Survey: Number of poor children up in the Shoals

MONTGOMERY - Key measurements of how well states provide for children in poverty show the Shoals, like most areas of Alabama, has more poor children now than five years ago.

In two of three northwest Alabama counties, however, the percentage of children graduating high school is increasing, which is a positive indicator for future economic growth and higher earnings.MONTGOMERY - Key measurements of how well states provide for children in poverty show the Shoals, like most areas of Alabama, has more poor children now than five years ago.

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Court Decision Endangers Affordable Rental Homes

Last week, a California Appellate court took a giant step toward eliminating affordable rental housing in communities across California. In Palmer/Sixth Street Properties v. City of Los Angeles, the Court ruled that a Los Angeles inclusionary housing law was preempted by the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act. As a result of this decision, inclusionary housing laws across the state are in jeopardy of being tossed out by over-zealous judges.

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Homes not priced to sell to low-income

City Hall often touts how it’s transforming blighted neighborhoods by using taxpayer money to subsidize new developments that include “affordable” homes for families.

But the families who need those homes the most can’t live in them because they’re priced too high, a report to be released today concludes.

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Program provides training for low-income workers

TROY - Federal stimulus money is helping low-income Capital Region workers train for and find new jobs.

The state Labor Department’s Career Pathways initiative has been up and operating since April. Officials say they've placed 16 workers.

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Reach of Subsidies Is Critical Issue for Health Plan

WASHINGTON — The major health care bills moving through Congress would require nearly all Americans to have health insurance. But as lawmakers struggle to achieve the goal of universal coverage, a critical question is whether the plans will be affordable to those who are currently uninsured.

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City offers homeless a one-way ticket out of town

If you're homeless and can't cut it in New York, the city has your one-way ticket outta here - to anywhere in the world - on the house.

The free ride is part of a $500,000-a-year Bloomberg administration program to keep the homeless out of the shelter system, which costs $36,000 a year per family, The New York Times reported.

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Neighborhoods Key to Future Income, Study Finds

Researchers have found that being raised in poor neighborhoods plays a major role in explaining why African American children from middle-income families are far more likely than white children to slip down the income ladder as adults.

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Atlanta close to tearing down last housing project

ATLANTA — The nation's bulldozer attack on crime and poverty will soon make Atlanta — home of the first public housing development — the first major city to eliminate all of its large housing projects.

Cities from Boston to Los Angeles are following its lead. For more than 15 years, housing officials across the country have been razing the projects where some 1.2 million families live and replacing them with a mix of higher-rent and subsidized apartments and homes.

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