Jennifer Ludden
Jennifer Ludden is a correspondent on NPR's National Desk where she covers housing, homelessness, poverty and inequality.
She tells stories of people struggling with the country's massive shortage of affordable housing, and explores policies and programs that try to help. She tracks changing laws around homelessness, and how communities are managing the record number of people without housing. Ludden has reported on millionaires lobbying working-class voters about the dangers of the economic divide; on tackling poverty with cash aid; and the struggle to get AC in public housing. She also helps cover major news stories, including natural disasters that have upended people's lives.
Previously, Ludden edited stories on climate and energy, working with NPR staffers and public radio reporters across the country. They tracked the shift to clean energy, and how people and communities are coping in a warming world. Before that, as an NPR correspondent, Ludden's various beats included changing family life and social trends, immigration, and U.S. national security after the 9/11 attacks.
Before moving to Washington D.C., Ludden reported for NPR while based in Canada, West Africa, Europe and the Middle East. She shared in two awards (Overseas Press Club and Society of Professional Journalists) for NPR's coverage of the Kosovo war in 1999, and won the Robert F. Kennedy Award for her coverage of the overthrow of Mobutu Sese Seko in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Beyond conflicts, she reported on cultural trends, including the emergence of Persian pop music in Iran and the rise of a new form of urban polygamy in Africa.
Ludden's first public radio jobs were at member stations in Maine and Boston. She has midwestern roots, grew up in Tennessee, and graduated from Syracuse University. [Copyright 2025 NPR]
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The overhaul shifts funds to transitional housing requiring work and addiction treatment. The administration says it promotes "self-sufficiency," but critics warn many will risk losing housing again. -
The first ever disruption to the nation's largest anti-hunger program came as a shock. It's shaken trust in the program for some and stoked concern that it could happen again. -
The administration's appeal to the high court over the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program comes despite new efforts to end the federal shutdown, which would render the issue moot. -
The administration's appeal to the high court over the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program comes despite new efforts to end the federal shutdown, which would render the issue moot.
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The high court decision allows a lower court time to consider a more lasting pause. The Trump administration is appealing an order to fully fund November food aid for millions of people. -
In failing to fully fund the food assistance program that covers 42 million low-income Americans, the judge said the government "failed to consider the harms" to people who rely on the benefits. -
About 1 in 8 U.S. residents get an average of $187 a month per person in the food assistance known as SNAP. For the first time, the Trump administration stopped the payments due at the beginning of the month. -
Two federal judges ordered the Trump administration to use emergency funding to provide SNAP benefits. But it's unclear how much, or when, those funds would be provided before the funding runs dry. -
SNAP, the country's largest anti-hunger program, dates back to the Great Depression and has never been disrupted this way. Most recipients are seniors, families with kids, and those with disabilities. -
With no end in sight to the funding standoff, financial anxiety is growing. One single mom in Colorado raided her retirement savings to get through the shutdown.
