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Citation URL: http://www.urban.org/TheUrbanInstitute

As the federal government, localities, and housing authorities seek to revitalize scarred inner-city neighborhoods, a unique set of responses is needed to aid public housing's most vulnerable families. The Chicago Family Case Management Demonstration may have some innovative answers.

Strongly held but conflicting values have shaped the U.S. social safety net and the policy debates since its expansion in the 1960s. A new Urban Institute Press book disentangles these beliefs and shows how they have led to the patchwork of mostly uncoordinated programs the safety net is today.

For many of the 36 million men and women age 55-64, the decade or so preceding retirement -- the period before Medicare and Social Security generally become available -- is less the glide path toward tranquility and more a roiling journey through economic and workforce instability.

The numbers are, simply put, mind numbing. The federal deficit will total $6.7 trillion this decade under current law, the Congressional Budget Office projects. The figure will nearly double to $12.7 trillion if the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts are not allowed to sunset as scheduled in 2011 and Congress, once again, "patches" the alternative minimum tax.

It’s not exactly news — to Congress, the White House, and now many outside of elite circles — that the federal budget is out of control. Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid make up more than 40 percent of spending other than interest during a normal year and all are growing faster than the economy and tax revenues. Yet, Congress has kept the overall tax burden remarkably constant as a share of gross domestic product for most of the past 50 years. Together, these factors lead to sky-high deficits, an exploding national debt, and the specter of economic collapse.

As Congress again tries to draft comprehensive immigration reform legislation, lawmakers should balance the protection of children and the integrity of their families with immigration law enforcement objectives, according to a new Urban Institute study. "Facing Our Future: Children in the Aftermath of Immigration Enforcement" takes a hard look at current immigration policies' impacts on children of unauthorized immigrants, a part of the immigration picture that has so far been left out of focus. The report chronicles the experiences of more than 100 children affected by six worksite raids or targeted arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Less than one-tenth of the federal budget was spent on children in 2008. Over the next decade, as the stimulus bill provisions expire, interest on the debt rises, and entitlement program costs grow, spending on children is projected to shrink. In light of our rapidly expanding national debt, how should the nation invest in its next generation?

Much of the contentious immigration debate has revolved around the country’s estimated 12 million unauthorized immigrants. Largely invisible have been the 5.5 million children with unauthorized parents. Almost three-quarters of these children are U.S.-born citizens.

The economy continues to struggle, notwithstanding the $787 billion stimulus package enacted in 2009. Some fear a double-dip recession and point to the IMF’s warning that fragile progress could be undone by mistiming an exit from stimulus-focused policies. Others see signs that a recovery is under way and point to the nation’s huge deficits and ballooning debt as reasons to begin trimming our fiscal sails.

NeighborhoodInfo DC, a partnership between the Urban Institute and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, held the second dialogue on the foreclosure crisis facing the Greater Washington region to answer these questions. The panel discussion on Banking and Servicer Solutions featured Jennifer Murphy from Center for New York City Neighborhoods and their innovative program to work with servicers.

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