MetroTrends Week in Review

| Posted: May 12th, 2012

Last week, MetroTrends bloggers offered solid facts on issues in the news:

• Because May is Asian/Pacific American Heritage month, Margaret Simms takes on the “model minority” stereotype and explores the diversity within this group.

• And Rob Pitingolo digs into the most recent trends in mortgage delinquencies, comparing metros based on the foreclosure laws governing their states.
• Rob Santos explains why the House vote to eliminate the American Communities Survey would be a tragedy for metropolitan America.

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MetroTrends Week in Review

| Posted: May 5th, 2012

Healthy food and decent housing are both critical to well-being of metropolitan residents.  And both pose challenges for poor families, especially those living in distressed neighborhoods.

Last week, MetroTrends bloggers tackled both these human needs.

• Rolf Pendall took on Mitt Romney’s proposal to eliminate the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD): first agreeing that the federal government shouldn’t be imposing “one size fits all” approaches to solve local housing and community problems, but going on to argue that federal policy plays an essential role.

• And Michael Martinez-Schiferl reports the shocking fact that over half of all infants and more than a quarter of children up to age 5 participate in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children—better known as WIC.

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MetroTrends Week in Review

| Posted: April 21st, 2012

MetroTrends Weekly Roundup

Low-income families in America face a range of challenges about which MetroTrends bloggers have recently completed clear, data-driven research.

• Gregory Mills describes the encouraging results of a New York tax-time matched savings program that helps its low-income residents save up to $1500 per year
• Mary Cunningham tackles the question of foreclosures and homelessness, but the data are sparse and thus, strong conclusions are elusive
• Margery Turner cautions that, though mostly-Black neighborhoods in American metros have become more racially diverse, the pernicious effects of decades of segregation persist

The news is thus mixed, and so MetroTrends will continue providing empirically rigorous answers to these and other fundamental questions.

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MetroTrends Week in Review

| Posted: April 14th, 2012

Last week, MetroTrends bloggers looked behind the headlines, offering facts and analysis about both employment and housing woes:

• Rich Johnson debunks the suggestion that older workers are getting more than their fair share of jobs.
• Zach McDade introduces our latest interactive mapping tool showing foreclosures by zip code in hard-hit Prince George’s County
• Margaret Simms explains why trends in unemployment claims don’t necessarily line up with trends in unemployment rates.

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MetroTrends Week in Review

| Posted: April 7th, 2012

Last week’s MetroTrends blogs took on three hot questions from the news:

• Can a distressed public housing project be transformed (cheaply) with an architectural makeover?

• Does the relocation of public housing residents increase crime in their destination neighborhoods?

• Did stimulus funding for public sector jobs work to strengthen the economy?

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MetroTrends Week in Review

| Posted: March 31st, 2012

Last week, MetroTrends bloggers brought evidence to bear on both current controversies and future visions:

• John Roman and Mitch Downey assemble key facts on homicides to show that Stand Your Ground laws, like Florida’s, likely lead to miscarriages of justice.
• Margery Turner argues that affordable housing is a critical ingredient in DC’s efforts to ensure kids’ success in school.
• Barbara Ormond envisions a future of urban bike commuting – and the health benefits it could bring.

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MetroTrends Week in Review

| Posted: March 24th, 2012

Last week, MetroTrends bloggers looked to the future of metropolitan America – on employment and ethnic diversity:

• Greg Acs offers cautious optimism about prospects for continued job growth and declining unemployment.
• Erwin de Leon ponders the potential role non-profits might play in increasing Filipino-Americans’ political visibility and clout.

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MetroTrends Week in Review

| Posted: March 17th, 2012

Last week’s MetroTrends blogs tackle three issues critical to the well-being of families and their communities – decent housing, fair wages, and adequate savings:

• Molly Scott argues that regulations designed to prevent over-crowding in rental homes and apartments may inadvertently trap some families in substandard housing.

• Margaret Simms shows that, despite big gains in education over the past three decades, women’s wages still lag behind men’s.

• Greg Mills features the latest information on how much Americans are saving – before, during, and after the Great Recession.

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MetroTrends Week in Review

| Posted: March 10th, 2012

Last week, MetroTrends explored three very different dimensions of housing policy in metropolitan America:

• Susan Popkin and Amanda Mireles argue for “two-generation” strategies to help the kids and their parents living in troubled public housing projects.
• Margery Turner explores our latest interactive map, which shows early signs of a housing market recovery in metros nationwide.
• Rolf Pendall compares three different tools for gauging rental affordability across metros.

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MetroTrends Week in Review

| Posted: March 3rd, 2012

Last week’s MetroTrends blogs dig deep – exploring trends and variations behind the national averages:

• Graham MacDonald’s latest interactive map tracks flows of people moving between metro areas, both before and since the Great Recession.

• Greg Mills highlights a new measure of “liquid asset poverty” and shows where it coincides with prolonged unemployment.

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