skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Monday, March 18, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Study: Minnesota Public Housing in Disrepair

play audio
Play

Tuesday, May 27, 2008   

St. Paul, MN – Minnesota's public housing is showing its age. A new report by the Minnesota Housing Partnershipfinds sharp funding cuts and rising maintenance costs have combined to put public units in more than 200 communities across the state in jeopardy. Executive Director Chip Halbach says the units serve an essential need.

"It's a very scarce housing resource, that provides stable homes to some of the most vulnerable members of our communities."

The study finds the housing is deteriorating rapidly, and some units are becoming health and safety threats as
federal and state investments fail to keep up with the maintenance needs. Halbach says this leaves low-income renters with less housing security, yet paying more.

"The managers of these units were under severe pressure to keep the quality of units up. What they've had to do was pass costs along, understanding that the average annual income of residents of public housing is just above $12,000 per year. Other owners have actually had to sell off some of the public housing."

Halbach believes it's time for the federal government to live up to its obligation to maintain the public housing stock.

"We need the federal government to reverse the seven years of inadequate funding for the operations, and to make needed repairs. At the state level, we need to provide enough money to these agencies running public housing, so that they do not lose any more of these units while federal solutions are in the works."

He adds most of the households are headed by seniors or people with disabilities, and many of the occupants are children. He says a growing need and a lack of new units have led to long waiting lists to get public housing, even units that are in substandard condition. Read the full report online, at www.mhponline.org.




get more stories like this via email

more stories
Corporate partners sign contracts to offer a graduate assistantship and pay the students. In turn, MSU pays the graduate assistant's tuition, fees and salary, so the assistantship is directly tied to the academic experience. (pressmaster/Adobe Stock)

play sound

By Victoria Lim for WorkingNation.Broadcast version by Farah Siddiqi for Missouri News Service reporting for the WorkingNation-Public News Service Col…


Social Issues

play sound

A new report brands Connecticut's tax system as "regressive" for low- to middle-income residents and uses a report from the state to make its point…

Environment

play sound

Backers of a new federal rule said it will increase fairness for livestock and poultry producers, in North Carolina and across the country. The U.S…


A study by the advocacy group Inseparable showed one in five adults said at any given time, they consider their mental health to be either 'fair' or 'poor.' (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Mental health care advocates are encouraging federal agencies to adopt a proposed update to regulations which would expand access to psychological car…

Social Issues

play sound

With hotter summers bringing hotter working conditions, the Maryland Department of Labor is implementing a heat stress standard to protect workers …

Social Issues

play sound

By Jimmy Cloutier for OpenSecrets.Broadcast version by Roz Brown for Texas News Service reporting for the OpenSecrets-Public News Service Collaboratio…

Environment

play sound

Recreational fishermen in New England say commercial trawlers are threatening the survival of smaller businesses relying on a healthy stock of Atlanti…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021