Fairfax City's bid to relocate a daytime shelter for the homeless to the Merrifield area is in jeopardy because county officials say they are unlikely to grant the necessary exception to zoning laws. Read more >>

As Michigan prepares to launch an aggressive plan to end homelessness in 10 years, a drama playing out in Lansing a few blocks north of the Capitol shows this will not be an easy task, nor will the usual way of doing things suffice. In one role, we have a group of not-yet-named men and women who have been homeless for a year or more, and a slew of agencies set to help them. The agencies would implement a relatively new concept called “supportive housing,” which is a cornerstone of the state’s plan to be unveiled Oct. 24 at the Lansing Center during National Homeless Week. Read more >>

FOUR WEEKS AGO, JAMIE KRONICK moved into her first home in six years. She had been sleeping on the streets of Santa Monica, often in a doorway if the building's owners didn't make too much of a fuss. Now Kronick, who is 50, lives in a clean, well-lighted studio apartment in Silver Lake so new it smells of fresh paint. Read more >>

U.S. Housing Secretary Alphonso Jackson shed little light Monday on the future of public housing in hurricane-battered New Orleans, but said that "only the best residents" of the former St. Thomas housing complex should be allowed into the new mixed-income development that replaced it. In a wide-ranging interview with reporters, Jackson was asked about the relatively small number of apartments in the 60-acre River Gardens development in Uptown that have been set aside for former residents of St. Thomas. Jackson estimated it was 18 percent to 20 percent, although housing advocates said it is less. Community. Read more >>

A homeowner wanted to remodel her bathroom, and Edwin Rivera, who operated a home repair company in Philadelphia, helped her get a loan. She trusted Rivera because he spoke Spanish. He persuaded her to give him $7,000 up front for the project. Workers came to the house, ripped out the old bathroom, but never returned. They hadn't been paid because Rivera pocketed the $7,000. The woman spent the next several months showering with a garden hose in a kiddie pool in her basement. This woman was one of dozens of Rivera's victims. It was a relatively simple scheme. Zero in on lower-income, primarily Spanish-speaking homeowners who had little or no experience with borrowing money. Get them to cough up the proceeds from their home-equity loans on the promise of home repairs or remodeling. Then, with the money paid up front, don't bother doing the work, or do it poorly. Read more >>