The ‘Minnesota Nice’: A Culture of Collaboration
In and around the Twin Cities, there is a tolerance for process and building relationships to handle the pressing challenges facing neighborhoods.
Habitat Gets Into Marin
Just three years ago, Marin county residents were busy raising money for a legal fight to stop Habitat for Humanity from building four homes affordable to families making under $56,000/year, […]
It’s Bankers Versus Realtors in Arizona: What About Communities?
In Arizona, the ever-shifting attempt to assign or avoid the pain of the foreclosure crisis has gone to court. Arizona’s laws had previously said that lenders had no recourse if […]
What Makes People Love a City?
The Knight Foundation, sponsor of Soul of the Community, a three-year study that asks people in 26 communities about their perceptions of their city when it comes to things like […]
Bring Back Rent Control?
Yesterday NY1 tried to set up New York City’s mayoral race as an affordable housing vs. education spat, based on the candidates’ negative soundbites about each other. Although this is […]
Community Developer Wins Contentious Primary for NYC Council Seat
Brad Lander, a not-for-profit director, affordable housing builder, city planner, and community organizer told the Brownstoner about why he chose to run for New York City Council. “I’ve worked with […]
Don’t Like 40B? Plan for Affordable Housing
Opponents of Massachusetts’s “40B” affordable housing law are gearing up for another petition drive to repeal it.
Subprime and the Myth of Increasing Homeownership
Alyssa Katz notes that a couple analyses show that the increase in foreclosures caused by subprime mortgages more than outweighed the new first-time homeowners it generated. “So please, no more […]
Prove You Own My Loan
When I first heard of the case of Mamie Ruth Palmer, which hit the news about a year ago, it sounded like quintessential poetic justice: A homeowner who had filed […]
Because we needed more fraud and foreclosure…
This may be small in the grand scheme of the economic collapse, but I think it’s worth highlighting anyway: While there are dozens of reasons people are getting behind on […]
Renting From the Bank?
Alyssa Katz, author of Our Lot: How Our Real Estate Came to Own Us, is skeptical of the proposal to have foreclosed homeowners stay on as renters. Katz, like the […]
Journey to Work: What About Bikes?
In a fascinating post over at Next American City, Dave Steele observes a big divide among bike commuters: the affluent, geared-up, environmentalist, health-conscious cyclists by choice, and those who are […]