Next City

This article was originally published by The Conversation. In 2025, Camden, New Jersey – a city of about 72,000 residents that sits across the Delaware River from Philadelphia – experienced its first homicide-free summer in nearly 50 years. The city ended the year with 12 homicides – a stark drop from 2012 when it recorded 67, a per capita rate 18 times the national average at the time. I’m a professor of criminal justice who wrote a book on police reform efforts in Camden over the last 15 years.

Congress just passed the largest housing bill in decades with votes from every Democrat, and almost every Republican. Trump, in his latest tantrum, denied them the fanfare of a signing ceremony, but the law is a big deal. The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act will clear out old regulatory gunk, speed up permitting, and lower building costs. The Bipartisan Policy Center found that nearly 90% percent of voters wanted Congress to make housing more affordable.

As the U.S. enters another year of searing summer heat waves, mayors and city managers are confronting a compounding crisis. Extreme urban heat brings soaring energy costs, buckles aging infrastructure, and places a severe economic strain on already tight municipal budgets. Yet, in the face of these challenges – alongside ongoing housing shortages and public health hurdles – parks and public spaces are being treated as amenities to be funded after pressing priorities are addressed.

KQED reports that San Francisco voters will decide this November whether to create the country’s first municipal public bank, after the city’s Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to establish the governance framework needed to put the measure on the ballot.

This story was originally published by South Dakota News Watch. In a first-of-its-kind project in South Dakota, the small hospital in this southern Black Hills town is investing in a subdivision project to provide housing for its employees.

This story was originally published by The Connecticut Mirror. Standing in the lobby of New Haven’s newest workforce development center, Erik Clemons couldn’t help but think about the long legacy of economic self-determination forged in Dixwell, one of the city’s historic Black neighborhoods. There was the Monterey Club, a local jazz joint that hosted Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday and John Coltrane before closing in the 1990s. Unique Boutique provided clothes and beauty supplies.

This story was originally published by Prism. As FIFA World Cup matches draw fans from around the globe to South Florida, local artists are using the tournament’s international spotlight to raise concerns about immigration detention in the state. The community arts collective Artists for Artists: MIA (A4A: MIA) joined the national “No ICE in the Cup” (NIITC) campaign, calling attention to the impact of immigration enforcement in World Cup host cities, including Miami.

This story was produced with support from the Solutions Journalism Network’s How Government Responds Innovation Fund. Anna Apostolos knows sidewalks. Since 2000, she’s orchestrated the repair of tens of thousands of square feet of sidewalk for hundreds of Angelenos. Her official title is “capital projects specialist” for the Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative, which partners with local council districts to repair sidewalks using discretionary funding.

Italy is sending asylum-seekers to detention centers in Albania. Britain has stretched the wait for permanent residency from five years to 20 years. Switzerland is considering a population cap that could restrict asylum and residence permits. And yet irregular border crossings into Europe are at their lowest level in years. These are not responses to a migration crisis. They are responses to a political one. People move. They always have.

This story was produced as part of Next City’s joint Equitable Cities Reporting Fellowship with Resolve Philly’s Germantown Info Hub. In April, Germantown Info Hub and Next City held a community listening session with residents to discuss what is and isn’t working when it comes to economic mobility and the benefits cliff.