Strategic Default Can Make Sense, Right? Well, Not So Fast
Walking away from one’s mortgage, particularly a mortgage that is underwater, has increasingly become a viable option for homeowners who can no longer live...
How Rent Control Helped Create East Palo Alto
The story of East Palo Alto’s incorporation is one marked by great contention among local stakeholders, but also provides valuable lessons for organizers in forging and mobilizing local coalitions.
A Tangled Web: The Problem with Fragmented Housing Assistance
We don’t really have a housing assistance system. We have hundreds of them. And that's part of why it's so hard to get rent relief out.
Is a New Bubble Forming?
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Are we slipping into a new housing bubble? (Or is it racing into?)
S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices track housing price changes in 20 metros nationwide....
An Open Letter To The Candidates: We Need Housing Solutions
Last week, a coalition of housing, civil rights, and consumer protection groups issued an open letter to President Obama and...
Bringing CLTs to Scale in Atlanta
To ensure affordable housing around the Atlanta BeltLine, the new Atlanta Land Trust Collaborative will balance citywide scale with local control of individual land trusts by existing CDCs.
Manufacturing Affordable Homeownership Solutions
It’s time to take factory-built homes seriously as affordable housing.
Something Old, Something New: Biden’s Housing Plan
President Biden’s Housing Supply Action Plan is a catchall of existing proposals, tiny tweaks, and things Congress would have to fund—plus a few genuinely interesting administrative moves. Here’s the rundown.
Loan Guarantees Are Not Enough
It’s less expensive for the government to guarantee a loan made by a bank than to be the lender itself....
The New Rent Control Wars
On November 4, a near riot broke out in the usually quiet city of Alameda, Ca. The reason? A...
“It’s Like You’re Walking But Your Feet Ain’t Going Nowhere.”
In Texas, evacuees from Hurricane Katrina wonder if their lives will ever get back to something approaching normal.
Activists Win Control of Vacant Philadelphia Buildings: Now What?
The city and the activists involved have referred to the organization that will receive the properties as a community land trust, but as of late October it was not yet clear how the group will be structured.
We Need State Law that Allows Multifamily Housing
The New Jersey Legislature should seriously consider adopting a statewide law that defines “single family” zoning as permitting one or two units on one lot.
Are Millennials Different, or Just Delaying Homeownership?
Big, diverse, and a little bit different, the Millennial generation is often cast as the solution to—or the cause of—many of America’s housing challenges. But Millennials probably aren’t as principal to understanding U.S. housing market conditions as the sheer amount of media coverage may lead us to believe. The opportunities available to Gen Xers and […]
The Linchpin of a Just Housing System
A vision is rooted in the belief that housing is a human right, not a commodity to maximize profit. Homes For All believes it is possible to create a just housing system in which everyone has affordable and dignified housing.
Fair Housing’s Giant Two Steps Forward
It’s a rare moment when two branches of our federal government take major steps to expand opportunity for all...
The FHA Refinancing Option for Troubled Loans—Doing it Right
Now that the American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act has been signed by the president, let us examine one of its key provisions....
What to Do When ICE Comes to Your Buildings
If you own and/or manage affordable housing, do you know what to do if ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) shows up on your doorstep looking for someone? If you haven’t thought it through yet, now’s the time.
Let’s Get Rid of the Words “Property” and “Manager”
One of my first jobs as a young housing professional in the 1980s at a local public housing authority...
A Few Slightly Radical Ideas to Ponder
Here’s a handful of somewhat radical planning ideas to ponder as we enter the Great Mini-Depression:
I am wondering what sort of innovations will go...