Audio and Video from the Urban Institute

The Next Challenge for Public Housing: Serving Its Most Vulnerable Families

As the federal government, localities, and housing authorities seek to revitalize scarred inner-city neighborhoods, a unique set of responses is needed to aid public housing's most vulnerable families. The Chicago Family Case Management Demonstration may have some innovative answers.

The Second Awkward Age: Life at 55 and Beyond

For many of the 36 million men and women age 55-64, the decade or so preceding retirement -- the period before Medicare and Social Security generally become available -- is less the glide path toward tranquility and more a roiling journey through economic and workforce instability.

Desperately Seeking Revenue

The numbers are, simply put, mind numbing. The federal deficit will total $6.7 trillion this decade under current law, the Congressional Budget Office projects. The figure will nearly double to $12.7 trillion if the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts are not allowed to sunset as scheduled in 2011 and Congress, once again, "patches" the alternative minimum tax.

Trillions of Reasons to Get Serious about Our Fiscal Future

It’s not exactly news — to Congress, the White House, and now many outside of elite circles — that the federal budget is out of control. Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid make up more than 40 percent of spending other than interest during a normal year and all are growing faster than the economy and tax revenues. Yet, Congress has kept the overall tax burden remarkably constant as a share of gross domestic product for most of the past 50 years. Together, these factors lead to sky-high deficits, an exploding national debt, and the specter of economic collapse.

Facing Our Future: Children in the Aftermath of Immigration Enforcement

Much of the contentious immigration debate has revolved around the country’s estimated 12 million unauthorized immigrants. Largely invisible have been the 5.5 million children with unauthorized parents. Almost three-quarters of these children are U.S.-born citizens.

Does the Economy Need - And Can We Afford - Another Jolt of Stimulus?

The economy continues to struggle, notwithstanding the $787 billion stimulus package enacted in 2009. Some fear a double-dip recession and point to the IMF’s warning that fragile progress could be undone by mistiming an exit from stimulus-focused policies. Others see signs that a recovery is under way and point to the nation’s huge deficits and ballooning debt as reasons to begin trimming our fiscal sails.