The Delaware News-Journal has an interesting op-ed today about the impact of the built environment on our health. Written by two leaders at Nemours Health and Prevention Services, the piece looks at how better community planning, more park space, and easier access to healthy food stores can help families craft a truly healthy lifestyle.

Remember a time when you walked to school? Or played with friends outside for hours after dinner?

Maybe you even stayed outside for awhile after it got dark just to squeeze in a few more minutes of shooting hoops, playing catch or riding your bike.

Today, many of our kids do not have this experience.

Many factors in our communities prevent them from being active outside. Traffic, neighborhood safety concerns, and the lack of nearby parks or playgrounds are just a few.

For more information and resources on how to make your community more healthy, please visit the PolicyLink Center for Health and Place.

The Guardian, the UK’s premier newspaper at covering in-depth issues in the States, today features an insightful piece on the “epic housing crisis” facing New Orleans. The article highlights the startling rental housing statistics researched by Annie Clark and Kalima Rose in the landmark PolicyLink report, “Bringing Louisiana Renters Back Home.” (pdf) The article features quotes from Ms. Clark, as well.

There are few incentives for landlords to renovate their rental properties. The Louisiana Recovery Authority’s “Road Home” program offers incentives for “small rental property owners” but it is not popular with mom-and-pop landlords, according to Annie Clark of progressive policy and research institute PolicyLink.

“A landlord says, ‘Yes I am going to rehabilitate my rental units,’” Clark explained, “but then he or she has to get a bank loan which is then paid back by Road Home. Banks are very hesitant to give loans to people this way.”

Clark added that Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has rehabilitated only about 1,500 units of the 4,600 units it has set aside for seniors, the disabled and poor working families in New Orleans. “HUD really has shirked its responsibility in these units,” Clark said.

The full piece is definitely worth a read to get a sense of the depth of the housing crisis still ongoing in New Orleans.

The housing market may be tanking — and Bear Stearns may be heading for the hills — but this New York Times story shows just how hard (and random) it still is for working families to get into affordable homes:

Both women applied to buy a town house at below market rates at Copper Beech Village, an 80-unit community here that is now nearing completion. Both met the criteria for affordable housing and were entered into a lottery conducted by the Long Island Housing Partnership in conjunction with Patchogue Village and Suffolk County.

Ms. Blake was among the fortunate 40 chosen to buy a new home (drawn from 150 names, although 2,500 applications were submitted). She moved into her $158,000 town house last month.

Her friend, however, was not so lucky.

The unfortunate story of these two Long Island friends is being repeated every day across this country, as millions of families struggle to find affordable homes close to economic and social opportunity. Find out how to fight for more affordable housing with the PolicyLink Equitable Development ToolKit. Tips on other resources for advocates and residents are always appreciated…

(Thanks to Housing Authority of Bowling Green for the image)