The production of natural gas since 2005 from the Marcellus Shale formation ˜ a formation buried deep beneath the surface that contains untapped natural gas reserves ˜ is proving to be an economic boon for the state of Pennsylvania. The natural gas fields can be found beneath 60 percent of Pennsylvania's total land mass, stretching from the southwestern portion of the state to the northeast corner. In many parts of the state, the rapidly expanding natural gas industry has created jobs as well as royalties for property owners with wells developed on their land, spurring the first substantive economic development in years. However, this rapid expansion challenges local governments to deal with a lack of affordable housing.

March 15 was a historic day for the Strong Cities, Strong Communities initiative (SC2), a partnership between the White House and 14 federal agencies aimed at breaking down federal silos and helping cities facing long-term challenges build capacity...

Poverty in the United States has long been concentrated in inner cities, particularly since the mid-twentieth century expansion of suburbia. Until 2000, most of the metropolitan poor lived in cities; as a result, the infrastructure to provide social services to the poor is more established in central city neighborhoods.

In September 2011, the Southampton Housing Authority (SHA) announced a partnership with the nonprofit community group YouthBuild to redevelop an affordable housing unit in the town of Southampton, New York. The building is one of several properties transferred to Southampton from Suffolk County under the county's Affordable Housing Opportunities Program, also known as the 72-H program.

In East St. Louis, Illinois, an unprecedented deal was struck to use public housing development funds in the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) program for a mixed-use housing facility, Jazz @ Walter Circle. The development will be an environmentally sustainable, mixed-use facility that will include 74 units of public and housing-choice-voucher rental units for low-income seniors.

Set for a late 2012 completion, a new development in the Melrose neighborhood of the South Bronx — situated on formerly contaminated land in a historically distressed neighborhood — is a prime example of quality affordable, sustainable, and mixed-income housing. Known as Via Verde, the project was the winning entry of the New Housing New York (NHNY) Design Ideas Competition of 2004, sponsored by the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects and the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

In Texas, the Housing Authority of the City of El Paso (HACEP) has begun construction on Paisano Green Community, which will be the first net zero energy public housing development in the nation — a net zero energy building has the capability of generating onsite all of the energy it consumes in one year. In February 2010, HACEP sponsored a nationwide design competition for a green public housing community to replace an older development built in the 1910s. The winning design — by the Boulder, Colorado architecture firm WORKSHOP8 — features several innovative green elements, a mix of unit types, an enclosed garden, and a community center.