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Publications on US Cities/Communities

Panelists discussed what is missing from the debate about improving the income, benefits, and related work supports for low-wage workers, especially those with children.

New crime statistics from the FBI show violent crime increased in 2005 and 2006, and an Urban Institute analysis offers evidence that the concurrent explosion in iPod use may have triggered the spike.

The recent increase in violent crime defies easy explanation, and many hypotheses have been put forward for debate. In this brief, we propose that the rise in violent offending and the explosion in the sales of iPods and other portable media devices is more than coincidental. We propose that, over the past two years, America may have experienced an iCrime wave.

The Skid Row Collaborative (SRC) is one of 11 projects funded in fall 2003 under the Chronic Homelessness Initiative (CHI) in fall 2003 to demonstrate the feasibility of moving chronically homeless disabled people directly into housing and helping them retain housing with health, mental health, substance abuse, and other supportive services. With much higher housing retention at the three-year milestone than a comparison group (59 vs. 14 percent), the SRC has proved to be a successful model of housing plus services for the Skid Row population—a model that could be adopted more widely in Skid Row and beyond.

The Chicago Process Study was initiated in 2001 to document and assess the early implementation of the HOPE VI redevelopment at the Madden and Wells public housing developments and the changes occurring in the surrounding neighborhoods. Through the study, Urban Institute researchers have provided feedback to the Chicago Housing Authority on HOPE VI-related activities with the idea that findings might inform later stages of redevelopment as well as other public housing redevelopment efforts. This final report examines the status of site development of Oakwood Shores, the breadth of neighborhood change surrounding the HOPE VI site, public housing resident relocation, and supportive services available to current and former residents of the Madden and Wells public housing developments as of autumn 2005.