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Home-buying costs could soar 22% if US defaults on its debt
A debt default is very unlikely, but new scenario projections from Zillow show sales would decrease sharply as mortgage costs balloon Mortgage rates could reach 8.4% in the unlikely event of a debt default, sending the mortgage payment on a typical home 22% higher by September. Home values would not lose much ground, according to …
Home-buying costs could soar 22% if US defaults on its debtRead More
Years Pass Before A Death Discovered: A Public Housing Association Too Business-y To Notice?
The Peabody Estate built in the 19th century is a listed property. Today, its successor the Peabody Housing Association has its eyes on the future, but seems to be forgetting the present. How can a nonprofit or a charity become significantly profitable? Answer: it can’t. But non-profits can create a comfortable living for a group …
Helping Students Stay Housed And Stay In School
Huiswerk. Een meisje zit aan haar bureau in haar kamer, en maakt haar huiswerk, Nederland [1964-1974]. Homework is meant to be done at home. Hard on the heels of a post about Governor Newsome’s end homelessness campaign in California, here is an initiative in Washington State that has been around for longer and has enjoyed …
New Yorkers Need Land. The NYPD Is Sitting On Nearly 150 Lots. — Shelterforce
A pedestrian walks in the street to pass a row of police cars blocking the sidewalk. Photo by Flickr user Joi Ito, CC BY 2.0 Land is a treasured asset in New York City; much of it has already been developed, and the few undeveloped lots are highly sought after. But the city’s various agencies …
New Yorkers Need Land. The NYPD Is Sitting On Nearly 150 Lots. — ShelterforceRead More
HUD Strengthens Standards and Aligns Inspection Regulations for Evaluating Conditions in HUD Assisted and Insured Housing
HUD No. 23-092HUD Public Affairs(202) 708-0685 FOR RELEASEWednesdayMay 10, 2023 HUD STRENGTHENS STANDARDS AND ALIGNS INSPECTION REGULATIONS FOR EVALUATING CONDITIONS IN HUD ASSISTED AND INSURED HOUSING NSPIRE Final Rule Effective July 1 and October 1 for all HUD Rental Assistance Programs WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) published the …
Market firmly in sellers’ favor as rising demand meets low supply
Sales are ramping up while sellers take another step back Home values are up 1% from March to April, the largest jump since June and in line with historical norms. Pending sales are gaining ground on 2022 figures, now standing 21% below last April. The drought in new listings is deepening, with 28% fewer new …
Market firmly in sellers’ favor as rising demand meets low supplyRead More
The Value Of Being Guided By Experience When Supporting People Who Are Homeless
Our support may be professional, but is it human? How easy is it for people to access the United Kingdom’s social “safety net?” Evaluations of this challenge often report that “. . . a more people-centred response is needed.” A report from Crisis in the United Kingdom asked people with experience of homelessness to unpack …
The Value Of Being Guided By Experience When Supporting People Who Are HomelessRead More
Peering Into Rural Homelessness – Affordable Housing Action
Faith groups play a big part in the response in rural Mississippi, which has one of the lowest rates of people experiencing homelessness in the U.S. During its short life, affordablehousingaction.org has published 2,700 posts. The purpose of reporting this is not to puff out our chests, but to highlight a gap in our content. …
Peering Into Rural Homelessness – Affordable Housing ActionRead More
Neglected Social Housing Or Any Other Can Hound Older People Towards Long Term Care
Research has long shown that older people are more vulnerable to changes in their environment. For example, even though it may be more expensive and less efficient to allow nursing home residents to have personal keepsakes and furniture in their rooms, these objects provide comfort and reassurance. Disrupting this environment – for example, a temporary …
Neglected Social Housing Or Any Other Can Hound Older People Towards Long Term CareRead More
The Fight For Trans Rights Shines A Light On Health Care Rights For Homeless Children
A great deal of so-called ‘woke’ energy around the world has been mobilizing to demand more recognition for ‘trans’ rights, together with legal mechanisms to create a physical and ideological safe place for trans people in society as a whole. The spectrum of trans support is wide, as is a fierce pushback against attempts to …
The Fight For Trans Rights Shines A Light On Health Care Rights For Homeless ChildrenRead More
Been Homeless? No? A Property Guardian Maybe — Not Quite Homeless, But Usefully Close
A fine house to live in and take care of, until the owner wants it back. Late in life, I’m pleased to learn a little about property guardianship. Seems I was a property guardian and never knew it. So was my daughter, at least in a family sense. She was born in a stable. It …
Been Homeless? No? A Property Guardian Maybe — Not Quite Homeless, But Usefully CloseRead More
So There Was A Fire. Sorry For The Damage & Injuries, But We’re Underfunded. Not Our Fault.
What’s the most likely way to prevent public housing fire disasters? Consider the infamous 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London, England, and two fires in January 2022, one in New York City and the other in Philadelphia. Many lives have been lost — a seemingly inevitable fate in publicly owned cash-strapped rent-geared-to-income housing that accommodates …
So There Was A Fire. Sorry For The Damage & Injuries, But We’re Underfunded. Not Our Fault.Read More
Higher Property Values Are a Mixed Blessing in Baltimore — Shelterforce
Photo by Flickr user shootingsawk, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 It’s time for some straight talk about rising property values. Yes, they help amass equity for homeowners, provide opportunities for developers, and generate revenue for localities. But they also raise rents, pushing out low-income renters; keep the unhoused, unhoused; and push fixed-income homeowners into fiscal precarity. If …
Higher Property Values Are a Mixed Blessing in Baltimore — ShelterforceRead More
Rising Property Values Are Incompatible with Affordability — Shelterforce
Photo by Flickr user shootingsawk, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 It’s time for some straight talk about rising property values. Yes, they help amass equity for homeowners, provide opportunities for developers, and generate revenue for localities. But they also raise rents, pushing out low-income renters; keep the unhoused, unhoused; and push fixed-income homeowners into fiscal precarity. If …
Rising Property Values Are Incompatible with Affordability — ShelterforceRead More
Private Rental Housing: Pipelines To Homelessness That Spirit Rent Away From Communities
Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google LLC, used with permission. New flats are popping up on central Manchester. Who owns them? Padraic Kenna and Mark Jordan, writing in The Conversation, argue that the responsibility for homelessness rests squarely with the private rental sector, which has a penchant for evicting its tenants. …
Private Rental Housing: Pipelines To Homelessness That Spirit Rent Away From CommunitiesRead More
What Can History Offer Today’s Public Housing Advocates In The U.S.?
The Harlem River Houses project was built as a demonstration in the 1930’s, when architects and decision makers were working on housing policies and other public works to dig the United States out of the Great Depression. For anyone who is interested in the history of housing policy in the United States, Gail Radford is …
What Can History Offer Today’s Public Housing Advocates In The U.S.?Read More
Six Steps to Ensuring a Strong Right to Organize for Tenants — Shelterforce
Photo by Flickr user Riccardo Guerrini, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 In 2019, the tenants at Stonehouse Square Apartments in northeast Minneapolis discovered that their housing was at risk. The owner intended to sell the complex, and the prospective buyer had no obligation to renew the complex’s Section 8 Project-Based Rental Assistance contract. Without the Section 8 …
Six Steps to Ensuring a Strong Right to Organize for Tenants — ShelterforceRead More
Asleep Near My Doorstep? The Matter Has Long Been Settled. Your Need For Slumber Is A Crime
Sleeping is fine, so long as you’re not outdoors. The COVID pandemic resulted in a profound change — temporarily at least — in the way that homeless citizens were treated world-wide. Was it because communities were overwhelmed by a concern for their less fortunate neighbours? Or was it because the homeless represented a vector for …
Asleep Near My Doorstep? The Matter Has Long Been Settled. Your Need For Slumber Is A CrimeRead More
Homeless With Mental Problems/Drug Abuse Issues: Human Rights Bang Heads With Compassion
Unidentified mental health hospital, closed down long ago. With roughly one in three people who are homeless having mental health or drug abuse issues, the growing numbers of people on the streets without shelter is creating antagonism between social activists. It comes as no surprise that the general population of an average community are exasperated …
Homeless With Mental Problems/Drug Abuse Issues: Human Rights Bang Heads With CompassionRead More
“No Address:” A Search For A New Homelessness Movie Unveils A Hidden Gem
Indigenous filmmaker Alanis Obomsawim. This writer’s hat is off is Christos Makridis and his website, Zenger News. Further hat-doffing to Forbes for publishing a Makridis story. His article whets the appetite for a new film entitled No Address — a set of dramatic stories written and filmed with actors playing the role of seven people facing the …
“No Address:” A Search For A New Homelessness Movie Unveils A Hidden GemRead More
Loosening The Hold Of Inequality In U.S. Cities
Do you remember the triple bottom line, a term invented to expand the bottom line? The bottom line was about money: the triple bottom line added social and environmental factors to the equation. Now, there’s a new triple: triple disadvantage. Robert Sampson created triple disadvantage. He is a sociologist based at Harvard. He’s very keen …
When a Land Bank Starts a Land Trust — Shelterforce
Exterior of a house in Central Ohio Community Improvement Corporation’s homeownership program. Photo courtesy of COCIC Miguel Lopez Perez rented his first apartment as an undergraduate student in Columbus, Ohio, in 2004. He remembers his first rental—a two-bedroom that cost around $600 monthly. When he decided to pursue a Ph.D. program in biochemistry at Ohio …
When a Land Bank Starts a Land Trust — ShelterforceRead More
Conservatives & Social Housing: Never The Twain Shall Meet? Not So
Social rent housing, thought to be seriously unpopular with conservative voters. Struggling to get more truly affordable housing built? Why might you despair over the future of adequate housing for those with the lowest incomes? It’s the bad attitude of conservative voters, stupid. Those are the folks with their bread nicely buttered. They are probably …
Conservatives & Social Housing: Never The Twain Shall Meet? Not SoRead More
Funding Houses For All Homeless. An Enormous Expense Or An Amazing Money-Maker?
Its time to go home (4370689591) photo by Quinn Dombrowski is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 Spend money to end homelessness? Doing so will actually make more money than is spent. Isn’t that the kind of fever-dream that propels gambling addicts until they become bankrupt? Nevertheless, the idea has caught on in the world of homelessness …
Funding Houses For All Homeless. An Enormous Expense Or An Amazing Money-Maker?Read More
Unravelling The Mystery Of Government Housing Expenditures
Public accounts. Enough to put almost anyone to sleep. Any time someone digs into public accounts, they deserve a medal in the estimation of this writer. Following the money is slow work. In the case of the report linked to this post, local governments in the UK joined up with council housing providers and housing …
Unravelling The Mystery Of Government Housing ExpendituresRead More
US Rental Housing Market Is Under Control. Says Who?
US states and local governments dedicated $16 billion to provide short and long term housing supports for cost-burdened residents in 2022. Whitney Airgood-Obricki has been studying the rental housing market in the US and recently reported on trends she’s observed. Airgood-Obricki is based at the Joint Center For Housing Studies at Harvard University. Harvard’s prestige …
US Rental Housing Market Is Under Control. Says Who?Read More
Fifteen-Minute City? Bah! Humbug! – Affordable Housing Action
Wha? Patience, please. “What took us to the back 40, stays in the back 40.” That was the thought of this writer, some years ago when renting a country cottage. Why were there were a motley collection of dead vehicles on the edge of a local farm’s back 40? Well, what sane farm family wanted …
Fifteen-Minute City? Bah! Humbug! – Affordable Housing ActionRead More
Can Social Media Smooth The Path To Housing For People Leaving Homelessness?
Darn! I’m out of flour. I’ll just run next door… Time was, if you were short on a household item, you’d ask a neighbour to help you out. In today’s world, the idea might seem laughable. Would your neighbour be home? Would they answer the door if you knocked? Do you even know who your …
Can Social Media Smooth The Path To Housing For People Leaving Homelessness?Read More
“Like Trying to Find a Needle in a Haystack:” Advocating for Fair and Accessible Housing with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity – On the Home Front
R.S. Hurley is an advocate in California who is disabled with the environmental illness (EI) multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS). As a Section 8 voucher holder, she has spent decades working to secure her own reasonable accommodations for accessible/medically safe housing and to support hundreds of other renters living with EI. Ms. Hurley is the author …
Land Owned by LLCs More Likely to Be Vacant — Shelterforce
666 First Ave., New York, N.Y. Photo by Josie Faass New York City has long been known for its high cost of living, but the problem has taken on a new urgency of late. Manhattan’s median rents are above $4,000 per month, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the median house price …
Land Owned by LLCs More Likely to Be Vacant — ShelterforceRead More
Report: The UK Needs Four Million New Homes
When it comes to affordable housing construction, is there a way to bring these two together? When this writer was growing up, there was a ridiculous ad for packaged mints. It featured two people arguing about whether the mint was a breath freshener or a candy. The argument is brought to a halt when a …
Tents, Pods, or Tiny Homes? Portland’s Mega Encampments Change Their Spots
A tiny home (pod?), which was built for someone who was living under a bridge in Berlin. Portland, Oregon shares with the U.S. west coast the brunt of America’s homelessness. Other west coast cities have run through cycles of ignoring homeless tent encampments, harassing them, and sweeping them out of existence only to have them …
Tents, Pods, or Tiny Homes? Portland’s Mega Encampments Change Their SpotsRead More
Section 8 Discrimination Will Cost You — Shelterforce
Photo by Alfexe via iStock In October, the Washington, D.C., attorney general’s office announced the largest civil award in a housing discrimination case in U.S. history. The lawsuit was filed in 2020 against D.C. real estate firms DARO Realty, DARO Management Services, and Infinity Real Estate LLC, which oversaw investing for companies. A judge ruled …
Section 8 Discrimination Will Cost You — ShelterforceRead More
More buyers are purchasing mortgage points as a way to ease monthly costs
15% more borrowers purchased mortgage points in 2022 than 2021, and continue to do so as interest rates hover around 6% SEATTLE, April 26, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Interest rates remain high and home buyers are looking for ways to save money, including buying mortgage points. A recent analysis of data from the Home Mortgage Disclosure …
More buyers are purchasing mortgage points as a way to ease monthly costsRead More
Organic Veggies And The Determined Competence of Bored, Homeless Men
Home gardening, like this example from the city of George, South Africa, can be a satisfying adventure. But creating a vibrant vegetable business is a whole other order of competence! Move on, move on. Nothing to see here except vegetation. Unless, of course, you’re in the market for yummy organic veggies. A mini-miracle comes courtesy …
Organic Veggies And The Determined Competence of Bored, Homeless MenRead More
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