Indigent youth will often do whatever it takes to avoid a homeless shelter: They couch surf. They crash with relatives. They may trade sex for a bed. But that resilience poses unique challenges to the very programs designed to serve them.
Twenty years ago, Bill Clinton signed welfare reform into law. Though fewer people are on welfare today, the reforms haven't saved the federal government money, and poverty is higher than it was 20 years ago, according to Washington Post analysis.
Houston Housing Authority Chairman Lance Gilliam speaks with the Urban Edge about what happens next, now that Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner has blocked a public housing project in the wealthy Briargrove area.
A group of Freedmen's Town homes could be the first public housing units in Houston to get the city's historical designation. The move is part of a growing movement that recognizes the links between housing and preservation.