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Urban Institute insights and analysis inform national reporting
A woman and her four young children unload grocery bags around a kitchen island.
Greg Acs, vice president for the Tax and Income Supports Division at the Urban Institute, spoke with Virginia Public Media about the risks of addressing affordability in a zero-sum context that focuses on who bears the short-term costs of a policy instead of its potential for growth.
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  • A happy little girl hugs her mom, who is smiling so hard her eyes are closed and her nose is crinkling, stand on the driveway in front of a two-story home.
    Breno Braga on rising credit card delinquency rates
    The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s latest household debt and credit report shows credit card delinquencies are nearing Great Recession levels.
  • A class of small children sit in a circle in a classroom as the teacher in a yellow shirt and glasses presents on a strawberry, with the teacher's aid sittings nearby, looking at a diagram of the solar system.
    Diane Schilder on proposed changes to Head Start
    “There is a lot of variability across states and communities in the way that Head Start is designed and the way that it operates.”
  • An elderly man in a light blue button-up looks toward a window in a sunny home as an older woman with a cane and a younger woman in scrubs and a lanyard look on.
    Sarah Rosen Wartell on promising solutions to seniors’ housing challenges
    The nation’s housing crisis is “not only making it difficult for young people to afford rent or homeownership,” writes Sarah Rosen Wartell, president of the Urban Institute, in an op-ed for Governing.
  • A little boy wearing a colorful helmet and riding a colorful scooter smiles behind his handlebars as he crosses a city street with his mom right behind him, followed by a brother on a bike with training wheels and their father.
    Justin Doromal on New York City’s free public preschool program for 2-year-olds
    New York City has offered free public preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds for a decade and is now expanding the program to 2-year-olds.
  • Two completed houses sit between two undergoing construction on a new-feeling residential street.
    Jim Parrott and Jared Bernstein on what comes after the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act
    In an op-ed for The New York Times, Jim Parrott, nonresident fellow at the Urban Institute, and coauthor Jared Bernstein write that despite barriers, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act has great promise when it comes to addressing the nation’s affordable housing shortage.
  • A father chops a tomato into quarters as a pregnant woman squeezes lemon over a salad they're preparing together at their kitchen island, which also holds bowls of different kinds of fruits, veggies, and a carton of eggs.
    Michael Neal discusses why the way we measure homeownership rates matters
    Michael Neal, a housing finance expert at the Urban Institute, spoke with The Washington Post about the implications of this approach, which attributes a head of household’s demographic characteristics to the entire household.