The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) claims that Obama's economic stimulus bill helped contain the number of homeless people in 2009 and 2010.
Other leading economic indicators like Wall Street, GDP, unemployment rate, and CPI notwithstanding, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) "does appear to have unambiguously succeeded [because] it kept the number of homeless people from soaring," reports Shawn Zeller.
With $1.5 billion direct funding from the stimulus bill, "the states were able to find housing for 531,000 people at risk of becoming homeless, while 159,000 were moved from the streets into homes."
"[H]ad it not been for President Obama's Recovery Act, many hundreds of thousands of persons may have fallen into homelessness," says HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan in the article.
The rest of $787 billion ARRA money went to rescue too-big-to-fail institutions in order to prevent a systematic collapse of the U.S. financial system.
FULL STORY: A Stimulus Success Story
U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Camping Bans, but Challenges of Addressing Homelessness Remain
In Grants Pass v. Johnson, the Supreme Court upheld an Oregon city’s ban on camping in public places, paving the way for similar bans in cities across the country but doing nothing to solve the cause of homelessness.
Sweeps Aren’t Outreach: Policing Homelessness Still Doesn’t Work
A new study shines a light on the connection between homeless outreach teams and policing, and examines why so many cities still use resident complaints to guide their response to the homelessness crisis.
Los Angeles Tightens Restrictions on Encampments
During a city council meeting that had to pause while police cleared the room of activists opposing the measure, the council voted to ban public sleeping within 500 feet of schools, making one-fifth of city sidewalks off-limits to unhoused people.
Trump Administration Could Effectively End Housing Voucher Program
Federal officials are eyeing major cuts to the Section 8 program that helps millions of low-income households pay rent.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Ken Jennings Launches Transit Web Series
The Jeopardy champ wants you to ride public transit.
Crime Continues to Drop on Philly, San Francisco Transit Systems
SEPTA and BART both saw significant declines in violent crime in the first quarter of 2025.
How South LA Green Spaces Power Community Health and Hope
Green spaces like South L.A. Wetlands Park are helping South Los Angeles residents promote healthy lifestyles, build community, and advocate for improvements that reflect local needs in historically underserved neighborhoods.
Sacramento Plans ‘Quick-Build’ Road Safety Projects
The city wants to accelerate small-scale safety improvements that use low-cost equipment to make an impact at dangerous intersections.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
Ada County Highway District
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
Salt Lake City
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service