We Live Here | Season 2

We take a break from public policy and social systems, and instead explore different perspectives about what "My America" means to our listeners.

In our episode last week, we brought you stories of people navigating the nation's biggest program aimed providing housing for the low income, elderly and disabled. This week's podcast widens the scope a bit, and takes a look at the changes happening in federal housing policy. Trust us, it's a lot more exciting than it sounds! Featuring stories and voices from St. Louis, Chicago, Oakland and Phoenix.

Housing choice vouchers -- commonly known as Section 8 -- are supposed to give people with low incomes the freedom to pick where they want to live. But for many voucher holders, that's not how the story actually plays out. With help from reporters in Georgia and San Francisco, this week we explore just how tough it is to find affordable housing in America -- even with a little boost from Uncle Sam.

In 2015, 188 people were victims of homicide in St. Louis. In this episode, we bring you stories of those who have to cope and carry on. Because from a family, to a neighborhood, and beyond...as you follow the wake of each homicide, the ripples get wider and wider.

Despite the decades-long fight for school desegregation, America is, for the most part, still sending its white and black children to separate schools. Here in St. Louis, this angst over school segregation and integration never really went away.In fact, St. Louis is home to the longest running formal desegregation program in the country.In the latest podcast, we take you through its past, present, and experts' best guess for the future.

Administrators will no longer be able to suspend students in pre-kindergarten through second grade who attend St. Louis Public Schools next fall.

We start Season 2 of We Live Here by exploring a concept we're calling "burden of proof." And we ask why is it that race and class have such a huge impact on who gets believed in society. We explore this through the narrative of St. Louis lawyer Thomas Harvey, who confronted his own difficulties believing poor people and black people.