The alcove of a vacant building in downtown Raleigh provides temporary shelter for North Carolina’s homeless population. (Photo: Clayton Henkel/NC Newsline) The U.S. Housing and Urban Development’s annual one-night count of those experiencing sheltered and unsheltered homelessness is projected to show a decline after a record-high surge in 2024, according to a new report. Conducted during January, the Point-in-Time count is HUD’s annual one-night census of people staying in shelters and unsheltered locations; the latest official national Point-in-Time report found 771,480 people experiencing homelessness in January 2024, an 18% surge from 2023. Preliminary 2025 estimates, though, indicate homelessness has stabilized. A review by the nonprofit advocacy group Community Solutions, based on local counts available from 170 communities, projects that the total may fall to about 755,300 — a roughly 2% decline — though HUD has not yet released the official 2025 count. “The shift from sus...
Voters hold signs saying "Hands Off Our Votes" and "Our Vote Our Voice Our Power" outside the Alabama Statehouse on May 4, 2026 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. The Alabama Legislature began a special session Monday that could result in changes to primary elections and current congressional legislative district lines. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) The Alabama Legislature on Friday passed two bills that would allow the state to set new primary elections in certain congressional and legislative district if federal courts allow the state to revert to maps it previously declared racially discriminatory. The session came after the U.S. Supreme Court substantially weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, preventing racial discrimination in voting laws, in Louisiana v. Callais , and as the Alabama Attorney General’s Office sought to overturn prior court rulings that led to the creation of a second congressional district with a substantial populatio...