Radio Station Gains Grant to Report on Affordable Housing

Staff at WSHU will assess New Haven’s report on how to fix its housing crisis

Sacred Heart University’s public radio station, WSHU, has received $4,890 from Solutions Journalism Network (SJN) to report on affordable housing in New Haven.

As a news hub and capacity builder, SJN works with journalists and newsrooms to cover a community’s response to social problems. Rima Dael, station manager, said the staff sought training and funding from SJN “to enhance how we report on stories that go beyond just the facts; to look at investigative news features that explore solutions to systemic and challenging issues that exist in our region.” The WSHU newsroom has covered the issues on affordable housing in the CT region for many years.

This grant will supplement WSHU’s coverage of New Haven’s affordable housing as part of SJN’s reporting efforts regarding economic mobility. The particular focus will be on Dixwell Avenue.

New Haven’s Affordable Housing Task Force was created to combat the fact that 41% of the city’s residents pay more than 30% of their income on housing, which disproportionately affects families of color. Another issue is that housing instability adversely affects people’s health, education and employment.

In 2019, the task force produced a 21-page report containing 44 recommendations to remedy New Haven’s affordable housing crisis, including the creation of 20,000 more affordable apartments. The SJN grant will be used to produce one, seven-minute, news feature investigating affordable housing through the Dixwell Avenue community. Additionally, it will fund a 50-minute episode of WSHU’s weekly news magazine program, “The Full Story,” investigating the status of the task force’s 44 recommendations. 

For the Dixwell Avenue story, WSHU will research three affordable housing solutions, which they have reported on in the past:

• Stabilizing and preserving current affordable housing stock
• Zoning reform
• Targeted market-rate housing

This is an opportunity for WSHU to counter the racist connotations behind affordable housing and to provide context for the solutions from New Haven city officials.