Welcome to The Weekly Wrap, our Friday round up of stories that explain the problems oppressing people in cities and elevate the solutions bringing us closer to economic, environmental and social justice.

A Bipartisan Boost to the Child Tax Credit Faces Tough Odds

On Tuesday, members of Congress announced a bill that would expand the child tax credit as well as business tax credits, according to The Hill. As of now, only $1,600 of the $2,000 annual child tax credit can be returned to parents as tax refunds. Under the bill, all $2,000 could be refunded to parents by 2025. Even if the bill were to pass both houses of Congress, it would still not be equivalent to boosts to the child tax credits that came with federal pandemic relief. Those changes boosted credits to $3,000 for children over 6 years old and $3,600 for children under six. The pandemic child tax credit expansion cut child poverty in half in 2021, but all those gains were lost when it expired in 2022.

New IRS Program Pulls In Half a Billion Dollars From Millionaires

A boost to the Internal Revenue Service in the Inflation Reduction Act has already yielded $520 million in 2023 alone, according to Truthout. The IRS contacted 1,600 millionaires who had over $250,000 in tax debt as part of a new initiative to go after millionaires who owe the government money. But this is just the tip of the iceberg: IRS officials estimate that wealthy people avoid paying $160 billion in taxes each year. Recouping that money will require not only a more robust IRS but also closing loopholes in the tax code.

A 2022 deal with Republicans who threatened to shut down the government resulted in Congress reducing the amount of money added for the IRS as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, from $80 billion to $60 billion over 10 years. A deal reached with Republicans last week would cut that funding faster than previously expected.

Report Finds Companies Now Avoid Bragging About Climate Accomplishments

In a twist, Grist reports that corporations are choosing not to report their own successes in environmental sustainability, according to a report released by a Switzerland-based climate consultancy. The change could be the result of recent European Union laws against misleading “greenwashing,” in which companies suggest they’re part of the solution to the climate crisis. Now companies are staying quiet in an effort to avoid accidentally telling a fib. The consultancy calls this “greenhushing.” The phenomenon was most pronounced at the most environmentally-friendly companies.

Public Transit Ridership Is 74% of Pre-Pandemic Numbers

The steep drop-off in ridership that began with the pandemic’s stay-at-home orders and continued as companies allowed remote work has upended the budgets of public transit systems across the country. Now, U.S. public transit ridership is inching closer to where it was before the pandemic. New Geography reports that in October 2023, the country’s public transit had 74% of the riders that it had in November 2019. In the New York City metro area, ridership was up to 78% of 2019 levels, in Los Angeles, it was 82%, and in San Diego 93%. In Cincinnati, an outlier, public transit ridership is 2% higher than it was in 2019. Amtrak, which is privately owned but run by a federally-appointed board of directors, gained 3.1% more riders in the same time period.

A Bipartisan Proposal For Affordable Housing Funding

In a City Limits op-ed, Rachel Fee, executive director of the New York Housing Conference, voiced support for the bipartisan Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2023. The act would, among other things, change a requirement that recipients of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits fund at least 50% of their projects with private activity bonds in order to receive the full tax credit. The bill would reduce that to 25%, making it easier to apply. Fee estimates that reducing this cap would help finance 60,000 affordable homes in New York state alone.

Curated by Deonna Anderson

MORE NEWS

• This bill would create a dedicated social housing agency in the District of Columbia and finance the construction of city-owned mixed-income affordable housing. DCist

• Here are 6 trends that could shape US cities in 2024. Smart Cities Dive

• In Miami, a new mental health center offers alternatives to incarceration. Building Design+Construction

​RESOURCES & OPPORTUNITIES

• PolicyLink recently published Grounding Justice: Toward Reparative Spatial Futures in Land and Housing, a framing paper for its work in the space. It also announced its inaugural class of Spatial Futures Fellows, 11 leaders from across the country who are working to advance reparative spatial justice in their communities. Learn more about what they’ll be doing in 2024 here.

• The Honnold Foundation’s Core Fund supports solar energy initiatives worldwide, with a special focus on projects that are innovative, grassroots, and community-driven. The organization is accepting applications for the grant until February 2. Learn more here.

EVENTS

• The Urban Institute is hosting a conversation about zoning reforms that improve access to housing for all. February 5 at 3:30 p.m. Eastern. Register here.

• The Next City team is planning events throughout 2024. Be on the lookout for them on our event page here!

Roshan Abraham is Next City's housing correspondent and a former Equitable Cities fellow. He is based in Queens. Follow him on Twitter at @roshantone.