Every once in a while, Washington reminds us it can still work. This week, Congress passed the largest housing affordability bill in decades — and, remarkably, it did so with support from both parties. The bill now heads to the president’s desk, and its main goal is one most of us can feel in our own budgets: bringing down the cost of a place to live by building a lot more homes.
If you’ve tried to buy a first house, renew a lease, or help a grown kid find an apartment lately, you know how badly this was needed. Prices and rents have climbed to record highs in much of the country, and the simple shortage of homes is a big reason why. A law won’t pour concrete overnight, and we should keep an honest eye on whether the promised construction actually shows up. But after years of gridlock, it’s worth pausing to appreciate that our representatives found common ground on something that touches nearly every kitchen table in America.
Closer to our own lives, there was good news from the world of science, too. A pair of new studies — including one from Yale — found that nearly half of adults over 65 actually improved, physically or mentally or both, over time. Researchers tracking nearly 4,000 people from their late teens to their 90s concluded that brain health can get better at any age. So much for the idea that getting older only means slowing down. For all of us with parents, grandparents, or a few more candles on our own cakes, that’s a quietly encouraging thing to carry into the day.
Not everything was sunny. The economy is growing slowly, big companies are trimming jobs, and our politics remain as divided as ever. Those are real worries, and we shouldn’t wave them away.
But it’s worth holding onto the brighter threads, too. A country that can still pass a housing bill across party lines, and a body of research telling us our best years aren’t necessarily behind us — those are the kinds of stories that remind us why it’s worth staying hopeful, and staying engaged.