St. Paul, MN - There's been a big change of plans for the "Grand Old Party's" grand ol' party in Minnesota. After scaling back the first day of the Republican National Convention, delegates from Ohio and the rest of the country are putting in time to help evacuees stranded by Hurricane Gustav.
Residents of the Gulf Coast are breathing sighs of relief after damage from the storm was less than expected. However, many evacuated families are still far from home, and delegates at the GOP convention are putting together care packages for them. Maryland State lawmaker Tony O'Donnell says he, and the rest of his state's delegation, are rolling up their sleeves today.
"We're going to travel over to the Minneapolis Convention Center very early in the morning, zero-dark-thirty! We're going to go over there and pack some care packages to send down South for relief."
And Fredi Simpson, a delegate from Washington State, thinks the party's decision to tone down the rhetoric of the convention on Day One was the right call.
"We need to remember what Senator McCain has told us, and that's to stop being Republicans for awhile and let's be Americans. That's what we're planning on doing."
As the storm gained strength in the Gulf of Mexico, millions of Gulf Coast residents were evacuated to shelters and adjacent states, most with few possessions or supplies. New Orleans residents are being asked not to return to the city yet, and won't get the okay to go home until later this week.
Over the weekend, John McCain had called on convention-goers to scale back their plans and focus instead on relief efforts. As a result of the hurricane, some of the speakers scheduled for convention events didn't make it to St. Paul; some will appear by satellite.
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New Mexico houses cost less to buy than in many other states but there's also less inventory and one data expert does not expect a building boom to return.
Ali Wolf, chief economist for the data and consulting firm Zonda, said in the three years leading up to the 2008 Great Recession, homebuilders started about 2 million homes a year. Because the pandemic followed the financial crisis, housing starts never fully rebounded.
"We are seeing reasonable levels of growth," Wolf explained. "A lot more construction in the Southeast and the Southwest but these regions are really trying to play catch-up with the amount of in-migration that they've seen."
Since 2010, builders nationwide have started about 1 million new homes a year on average, far below the 1.6 million needed to keep up with population growth. Across New Mexico, there is a shortage of rental homes affordable and available to extremely low-income households with incomes at or below the poverty guideline of 30% of the area's median income.
To offer more inventory, Wolf argued builders need to feel comfortable that they can sell a home. At the same time, developers getting vacant lots ready need to feel confident that somebody's going to buy the land. Right now, she said, the number of vacant developed lots is still 40% below its pre-Great Recession level.
"The building community is saying, 'We don't want to get over our skis,'" Wolf observed. "I think that we will continue to see growth in housing starts. I just don't think we're going to see housing starts look anything similar to what we had seen before the great financial crisis."
Federal housing assistance used to focus on poverty, which helped New Mexico families where immigrants make up slightly more than 11% of the labor force. Now it is also a middle-class support program. If elected, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has promised financial assistance for both first-time homebuyers and developers who build their housing.
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Renewal Village, a converted Clarion Inn featuring 215 units of permanent supportive and transitional housing for people experiencing homelessness, has officially opened in Denver's Globeville neighborhood.
Darrell Watson, a Denver city council member, said his family frequently faced housing insecurity while he was growing up and his adult sister died while living on the streets. He emphasized the project, spearheaded by the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, is an important step to ensure that more people can exit the cycle of homelessness.
"Oftentimes when you throw out numbers and they feel like simply digits," Watson observed. "But each of those 215 folks to me are the faces of my sister, the faces of many others who are struggling to live in this city."
Per-unit housing costs for converting existing buildings, like hotels, are typically less than half the cost of new construction. Clarion's old bar and cafe are now common areas featuring a coffee lounge and dining room. The old ballroom is now where case managers connect clients to mental and medical health care, substance use treatment, job placement and other services they need to get back on their feet.
Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., said homelessness has long been a top issue for her constituents. She noted the project's strong partnerships, including with the Colorado Division of Housing, Adams County and the city and county of Denver, helped tap $4 million in federal funding to create a new home for families.
"Not just that, and this is the important thing, they'll have a place to call home and they'll have the supportive services that they need to be able to achieve more and more for themselves and their families," DeGette stressed.
Last year, more than 75,000 people received homelessness services in Colorado, recently named the eighth-least-affordable state in the nation.
Mike Johnston, mayor of Denver, said he is committed to creating more opportunities like Renewal Village in coming years.
"When you have traveled a very hard road, you've been on the street or unhoused or been on friend's couches or not sure you would ever find your way back to your own unit, with your own key, and your own space," Johnston outlined. "This offers that new hope again, that sense of renewal."
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Record-high home prices are a top concern for New Hampshire voters and could impact the outcome of this year's gubernatorial race.
All the candidates agree the state's permitting process needs to be streamlined by removing regulatory red tape - but leading Republican candidate Kelly Ayotte could have a conflict of interest.
A recent report shows she is a board member and shareholder with Blackstone, a private equity firm, which critics say has a history of buying properties only to raise prices and force tenants out.
State Sen. Rebecca Perkins-Kwoka - D-Portsmouth - said it's a practice impacting communities statewide.
"You know we do see this corporate investment in single-family homes affecting availability," said Perkins-Kwoka, "not just in homes to buy but also in homes to rent."
She said Democratic candidates Joyce Craig and Cinde Warmington understand the urgency of the housing shortage - and that Craig has a "comprehensive plan" to incentivize construction of affordable, multi-family units.
It's estimated the state will need 90,000 new housing units by 2040 to meet demand.
New Hampshire lawmakers made some progress this year, approving legislation to help convert commercial properties into residential spaces and allow for quicker zoning law changes.
Perkins-Kwoka said she hears from colleges, hospitals, residents, and businesses all struggling with the housing shortage.
"They can't find workers," said Perkins-Kwoka, "there's a definite workforce shortage and it traces right back to people's ability to be located here and find housing in the community."
She said lawmakers don't need to "recreate the wheel" to fix the housing crisis - pointing to the state's successful Housing Champions Program, for example, which directs infrastructure funds to towns that take housing-friendly actions.
She said families, many with school-age children, are being uprooted across the state due to the lack of affordable housing and the next governor will need to tackle the crisis head-on.
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