Eds and Meds and the Three-Legged Stool of Economic Development
My first reactions to Richard Florida's recent attempt to tip the sacred cow of “eds and meds” (universities and hospitals) economic development were quite similar to what Steve Dubb wrote […]
Will Newly Residential Downtowns Become Luxury Enclaves?
I was traveling a lot this fall, as usual. Back in September, I attended a pre-conference strategizing session on inclusionary housing at the National Housing Conference's Solutions 2013 event in […]
CDFIs: The Boom Sector in the Community Development Field?
Three weeks ago I went to Philadelphia to attend the annual conference of the Opportunity Finance Network, the trade association for CDFIs, or community development financial institutions. I go to […]
AirBnB: Way to Make Ends Meet or Destroyer of Affordable Housing?
Confession time: Despite the work that I do, when I began using AirBnB as a business traveler, I didn't think much about its affordable housing implications. To me, it was […]
Tenants’ Return to Rehabbed, Preserved Birthplace of Hip Hop
1520 Sedgewick Avenue in the Bronx was not your average building purchased by a speculative real estate investor in the housing crisis aftermath. It's known as the birthplace of hip […]
Don’t Assume
If you work in any field for a substantial amount of time, you will hear certain story lines and beliefs repeated over and over. For example: public housing towers are […]
Role-Playing for Energy Efficiency
Connecticut experiments with a “megacommunity strategic simulation” to move the needle on residential energy efficiency—providing a look at a tool that could also apply to other community development challenges.
Who’s After the Park?
Edge of Albany: A Warren Crow Mystery,
by Kirby White. Fox Creek Press, 2012. 218pp. $20 (paper).
Joyful Journey
Urban Alchemy: Restoring Joy in America’s Sorted Out Cities,
by Mindy Thompson Fullilove, M.D. New Village Press, 2013, 333pp. $19.95 (paper).
Inside the Affordable Housing “Big Tent”
One of the great things about the National Housing Conference is that it brings together such a wide variety of parts of the field.
From “Knucklehead Kid” to Boston Mayor?
There are several teenagers featured in Holding Ground, a film about the launch of the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative. DSNI is a community organizing and planning group in Boston that […]
Shared Equity for the Rich?
One of the common arguments from those who are skeptical of shared-equity homeownership is that it's unfair to ask low-income people to give up their right to 100 percent of […]