How tenants around Portland fight back against landlords

Landed will pay for half a teacher's down payment on a home in exchange for a quarter of profits when the house is sold down the line. The San Francisco-based startup has recently arrived in Bellevue, where the median home price is hovering around $1 million.

North Carolina’s Roanoke Electric Cooperative is helping members bring down energy costs. Because the energy costs in this area is due to a lack of energy efficiency, the cooperative offers tariffed on-billing to help homes offset expenses like insulation and new heat pumps. The tariffed on-billing uses federal loans to pay for said expenses, and then the customer pays the tariff charge in their bill – which ends up being lower because of the energy efficient upgrades.

To combat the EMS shortage exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, a collaboration between a college and emergency services department is working to train paramedics by providing students access to high-end facilities, instructors, and experiences. Similar programs have popped up around the country, specifically in rural areas where the EMS shortage is even more apparent.

A pilot program in Jackson Hole is trying to make home ownership affordable for the local workforce. The program provides help with the down payment by granting $150,000 to families that meet the requirements. The initiative puts a cap on the appreciation value of the homes bought using the grant which ensures that the property values stay affordable over time. A similar program in Vail, Colorado has produced impressive results.

During the pandemic, indigenous communities received massive federal funding through the 2020 Coronavirus Aid, the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act, and the Relief and Economic Security Act for a number of needs, like infrastructure and tribal housing improvements. Many indigenous entities received smaller funds too. But COVID exacerbated several long-pending and neglected issues, local officials and tribal members say, and the funding does not sufficiently address them in the longterm.

Several companies are beginning to lean into the four-day workweek. It is also being seen as a new recruiting tool that resonates with a younger generation that prioritizes work-life balance. There are even nonprofits like 4 Day Week Global, that are coordinating pilot programs across the globe to encourage more companies to adopt a 32-hour workweek with no cut in pay.

With an influx of COVID relief money, the Russellville school district began hiring and certifying more local, Spanish-speaking staff to help teach English language learners. Districtwide, the percentage of students who met their language proficiency goals increased from 46% in 2019 to 61% in 2022.

The solar-powered freezer donated by Green Life Energy allows vaccines to be stored at the appropriate temperature, providing more access to necessary immunizations, specifically for those in rural communities. Nurses say the freezer box has the capacity to hold up to 500 doses of different vaccines, including polio, measles, tuberculosis, and the COVID-19 vaccine.

As the prosperity of its local casino has driven up rents and mortgage rates, the Suquamish tribal government has prioritized affordable housing with initiatives such as mortgage assistance, subsidized rental houses, rent-to-own programs, and small studio homes. The reservation now has about 140 homes for tribal members and the community is allocating funding from the American Rescue Plan to build more.

The Community Receiver Program works with real estate professionals of color to rehabilitate vacant and foreclosed properties. These properties are then resold to local homebuyers — to preserve generational wealth — or rented out at affordable rates. The program trains people to be community receivers for free, teaching them how to acquire and rehabilitate the buildings, as well as how to leverage grants and local funding programs. Since 2020, the Program has trained about 520 people, rehabilitated 16 buildings and contributed about $4.5 million in restored property value.