The High Cost of Poverty

“Anyone who has struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor.”
-James Baldwin
Living in poverty not only takes a toll on a person’s emotional and physical health but also on the meager financial resources they may have.  This article from the Washington Post takes a look at some of the ways that [...]

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2009 Buffalo Poverty Challenge

Our second annual Buffalo Poverty Challenge is coming up June 1st-3rd.  This year we have  a new website at:
www.povertychallenge.com
You can go there to take the Challenge online or there is a link to download the Poverty Challenge Guide so that you can print it out and take it offline.
We have fliers available for you to [...]

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The Foreclosure Crisis, Renters, and Communities of Color

The narrative surrounding the foreclosure crisis of the past year has tended to focus primarily on the foreclosure of homes that were owned by the people who lived in the them.  This article shifts the focus to the rental properties that have been foreclosed upon.  Many of the tenants of these rental properties do not [...]

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Bloomberg Charging Rent at Homeless Shelters

Unfortunately New York, a city that is home to some very progressive Housing First programs (like Pathways to Housing), is also home to some very backward ideas about how to end homelessness.  This article is about Mayor Bloomberg’s recent decision to enforce a 1997 state law that requires residents who are staying in one the [...]

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The New Homeless

Here is a very well written article about the “new” homeless population.  The important thing to remember is that the “new” homeless people, who have received a lot of attention in the last few months, are really not qualitatively different than the “old” homeless population that has been around since the late 1970’s.  These “new” [...]

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21st Century Shantytowns

This article illustrates a very tangible result of the current economic crisis.  As unemployment rates continue to rise and finding work becomes more and more difficult, people are losing their sources of income and are exhausting all their housing options.  When a person runs out of money and can’t afford an apartment or motel, they [...]

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