News Blog

Understanding TANF Cost Recovery in the Child Support Program – CBPP

“…child support payments often do not reach families participating in TANF. And even after they leave TANF, states still keep some of their child support payments. State child support policies typically prioritize reimbursing the state and federal government for TANF cash payments provided to families during times of need, rather than directing payments to the children for whom they are intended. States have policy options to direct more child support payments to families who receive or used to receive TANF assistance, but only half of states have chosen to exercise any of those options.

“Families, not states, should receive the child support payments made by non-custodial parents for their children.”

Labor and the Housing Shortage: a Historical Perspective from Detroit – Power at Work

“In Detroit, the quintessential city of modern industry and the focus of the book, I explore workers’ struggle for better houses in the early decades of mass production—the 1910s and 1920s. The book centers human stories about what houses meant to this first generation of modern workers. It explores the importance of housing to workers’ identities and their hopes and dreams for their families. In that turbulent era, Detroit’s workers fought to establish a lasting ideal: that hard work should be respected and offer a pathway to a better life.”

Teachers Union Locks Out Its Staffers Following 3-Day Strike – Huffpost

“The NEA represents 3 million teachers, support staff employees and other workers at public schools and colleges across the country. It is a major ally of the Democratic Party, and endorsed Biden’s reelection campaign in April, calling his the ‘most pro-public education and pro-union administration in modern history.'”

MIDDLE-INCOME HOUSING PROGRAMS EMERGE AS AFFORDABILITY CHALLENGES CLIMB THE INCOME LADDER – Harvard JCHS

“Because of their relative recency, minimal research has been done on state and local middle-income housing policies and programs. Our paper helps close this gap by documenting the rise and features of these programs. Their proliferation speaks to the growing unaffordability that is affecting more people and more places than ever before. However, the cost of addressing middle-income rental affordability must be balanced with meeting the long-standing and deep needs that lowest-income renters face.”

Some local governments are willing to subsidize housing for teachers and public safety personnel they pay but do nothing to help low-wage people like food workers, health aides, and childcare workers. For families at the bottom of the income scale, their message is: “We need you to work for us. But don’t think about being able to live here.”