If You Lived Here, You’d Be Home By Now: A Cautionary TOD Tale
Everywhere we go we hear about transit-oriented development: bringing the home closer to the transit hub. Not only does TOD offer an opportunity to fix up areas near the rails, […]
IOC’s Rio Pick Could Be Good News for Chicago
My friend Hank Kalet offered a prescient look last week about the potential pitfalls of Chicago being awarded the 2016 Olympic games. The following day, the IOC sent Chicago packing […]
Rethinking Rentals
With the rental population growing and the stock of affordable housing rentals in decline, “due to the demolition of older apartment buildings, the abandonment of foreclosed rental properties, and the […]
ACORN and the Media
You might have seen Peter Dreier, NHI board member, and the director of the Urban & Environmental Policy Program at Occidental College on Rachel Maddow the other night discussing the […]
Roasting a Fire Under ACORN
It’s September here in the Northeast and the acorns falling from the oak trees, including those from the Northern Red Oak, New Jersey’s state tree, cause a messy, but welcome […]
NHC-led Task Force Eyes the Future of the Housing Finance System
A task force led by the National Housing Conference this week released a set of “Ten Key Principles” for repairing the U.S. mortgage market and addressing soaring foreclosures. The task […]
Van Jones: The Green House, Redux
The Spring 2009 issue of Shelterforce ran a brief about Van Jones’ being named White House special advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation for the White House Council on […]
Lion of the Senate
We mourn the passing of Sen. Edward Kennedy today not only for his definitive role in a significant slice of Americana, but also for his role a true progressive leader. […]
…At Your Own Risk
Whole Foods Market CEO John Mackey’s piece in The Wall Street Journal, “The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare,” touted his own company’s health insurance policy, offered half-baked, pie-in-the-sky solutions (“make […]
Right Wing Taking Cues From Saul Alinsky?
On his Comm-Org listserv, Randy Stoecker, a professor in the Community and Environmental Sociology department at the University of Wisconsin, talks about an emerging meme comparing the right wing activists’ […]
The Bicycle Mandate
New York City Council approved a measure, the Bicycle Access Bill, that requires buildings with freight elevators to allow for bicycle access. The measure, which was overwhelmingly passed, is just […]
A Rental Option for Homeowners?
Reports are surfacing indicating that the administration is considering a rental option for troubled homeowners. Could homeowners rent their homes in lieu of eviction? According to Reuters: Officials have been […]