"We've been kicking the can down the road," explains Christopher Spence, a housing expert who has worked in the industry since 1992. He's referring to rent and fees some tenants are delaying paying off, due to pandemic-related hardships. Protections have kept them housed, but the rent will eventually come due.  "Just because landlords are not moving forward with eviction doesn't mean tenants don't have fees accruing," Spence says. 

Brenda Torpy, CEO of Champlain Housing Trust, may be leaving her post, but she isn't exactly retiring. Torpy, director of the Burlington Community Land Trust since 1991, before it merged with Lake Champlain Housing Development Corp., will serve as lead consultant for Champlain Housing Trust's new Technical Assistance Arm, TA/CHT, providing training and support services.
 

There are no roads to Bethel, Alaska. That's the case for many villages that are considered "rural" in this wilderness state, and that means that housing can be complicated. For Bethel, population 6,500, the need for housing has become more critical in recent years, and a NeighborWorks organization is trying to help.

Read "Reaching out to black farmers," part 1 of our two-part story that details how NeighborWorks organizations like Wealth Watchers support black farmers in rural communities. 

Ricky Dollison grew up farming in Poulan, Georgia, on 197 acres of fields, pastures and woods. His father grew peanuts, cotton, vegetables and tobacco. He raised hogs and cattle, too. Before that, his grandfather, known as "Big Daddy," farmed the land.

Farming wasn't easy and for a time, Dollison pictured a different life for himself. He received biomedical training and calibrated and repaired medical equipment at a hospital before moving to Connecticut to do electrical work.

Say "homeless" and most people easily conjure up urban images. In rural communities, homelessness is just as real, but often invisible. That's why 118 NeighborWorks network organizations use innovative approaches to address the challenges of helping their neighbors not only find homes, but stay in them. And because every community is different, every agency's approach is designed to be appropriate for the population it serves.

Access to broadband internet is fast becoming a predictor of whether you are on the “have” or “have not” side of the American wealth divide. If you can’t access high-speed internet regularly and don’t know how to take advantage of it, you probably won’t do as well in school, won’t know about good available jobs and won’t be able to get those jobs if you did.