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SourceLineThe Black Civic Data Platform

Our mission is to make sure Black communities are not simply informed about the decisions shaping our future, but equipped to help make those decisions. An informed community is a powerful community.

Stories

Housing stories

Each story starts with the national record, then breaks it down to your state, county, city and address: how it affects you, who decides and who pays. Newest first.

Showing 2 of 17 stories. See every story

On the record · DeKalb County

What does DeKalb's new camping law actually say?

DeKalb passed a camping law 5 to 2. What the text says, how each commissioner voted, and what officials told you, checked against the record.

Start with what the county wrote into its own law. The ordinance says being unhoused "is a condition that cannot be criminalized," and that enforcement should target "obstructive behaviors rather than the status of being homeless." It also requires an offer of help before any arrest.

Inside: How each commissioner voted, by district · What the law does, in plain words · What people are saying, beside the text · The gray area: panhandling, selling and living on the street · Check what you were told · Commissioner Ted Terry, who voted no · The county and CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson · Commissioner Nicole Massiah, who sponsored it · Who it reaches · Who decides next · What you can do this week · Where you live

Read the story › November 6, 2026 · 8 minute read

Housing, on the record

When public housing becomes Section 8, who gets to come home?

Public housing is being rebuilt as Section 8 under a federal program called RAD. What it fixed, what it risks, and who decides where you live.

Start with what is working. In HUD's own evaluation, the repair bill at converted properties fell by about two thirds, from $12,981 a home to $4,608, while it more than doubled at public housing that did not convert.

Inside: What the law is, and what Congress meant it to do · Why this is different from what happened in Atlanta · What the record shows, and where it stops · Pros and cons, side by side · What supporters point to · What critics point to · A view, labelled · Rural America is losing homes too · Who decides, from your street to Washington · What you can do · Where you live

Read the story › October 29, 2026 · 7 minute read

About these figures

Every figure on this page shows the year it describes. Public agencies release their numbers on their own schedules, often a year or more after the work of counting is done. The Census Bureau, for example, publishes its five year community survey each December, and the national reading test is given every two years. That is why some figures are not from this year. SourceLine updates each one as soon as the agency publishes it.

For some counties and small towns, SourceLine has not found meeting records online. Where it has not, we add them as they become available. A page that says SourceLine hasn’t updated a record yet means exactly that.