Northern Arizona University’s public radio station, KNAU, will examine the Flagstaff area’s gap between income and housing costs—a growing concern in mountain towns throughout the West—during a six-day series called “Poverty with a View.”
The series begins April 28 and will discuss the notion that as more and more people are drawn to Flagstaff, housing prices have skyrocketed, and jobs and wages have failed to keep pace, meaning poverty for some and severe economic challenges for others.
Reports will focus on:
- Flagstaff’s shrinking middle class and historically low wages
- the city’s recent economic development push
- affordable housing and second-home owners
- the effect Flagstaff’s affordability issues are having on outlying communities
- how NAU is addressing the housing crisis
- how very poor people cope with Flagstaff’s high cost of living
The series also will include commentaries and three hour-long call-in talk shows: the first on economic development, the second on affordable housing and a third, wrap-up show looking at where Flagstaff goes from here.
“Poverty with a View” is a first-of-its-kind collaboration between National Public Radio and a local, NPR member station.
Through NPR’s Local News Initiative, KNAU’s local news team is working with NPR producer Cindy Carpien, who produced KNAU’s award-winning “Edge of the Rez” in 2006, and Maeve McGoran, an editor with NPR’s Morning Edition.
KNAU has received funding from the city of Flagstaff, in partnership with Flagstaff Cultural Partners, to produce “Poverty with a View.”