Demolishing Buildings, and Political Communities
Signs like the one above went up at Chicago's Lathrop Homes a few Fridays ago. In 1999, the Chicago Housing Authority, in step with other housing authorities throughout the country, began a plan to demolish...
Insurance Redlining: Still Fact, Not Fiction
Homeowner insurance redlining discriminates against Blacks and undermines urban redevelopment.
Q: What’s the Point of Shared-Equity Homeownership in Weak Market Areas?
Shared-equity homeownership is best known as a tool to fight displacement in hot-market areas. But in fact, it has many advantages in weak-market areas too.
Have We Been Wasting Affordable Housing Money?
It might seem like 10, or even 30, years is a long time to require affordability—until it’s over and your public investment is lost.
Subprime’s Footprint
While immediate steps are necessary to stem foreclosures, a comprehensive solution requires a broader brush.
Stewardship Works
Community land trusts succeed in curing delinquencies and preventing foreclosures, and the numbers show it.
Interview with Sister Lillian Murphy, CEO of Mercy Housing
For Sister Lillian Murphy of Mercy Housing, your mission must not be an excuse to make bad business decisions.
Housing Beyond the Nuclear Family
As multigenerational households increase, some community groups are rethinking how to design homes and developments to bring generations together.
Q: Does Affordable Housing Development Lower Nearby Property Values?
A. No. No. No. Are 56 studies enough no for you?
“Nation’s Poorest 1% Now Controls …..
Two-Thirds Of U.S. Soda Can Wealth,” so reads a headline from the latest issue of The Onion, my favorite source of political commentary. The article goes on to talk about the “growing and possibly...
Does Obama’s Plan Go Far Enough?
Barack Obama’s announcement this week outlining $75 billion in direct funding to help homeowners stay in their homes, and up to $200 billion designed to allow for the government-controlled mortgage industries, Fannie Mae and...
The Right To Rent
Fannie Mae this week announced its Deed for Lease Program that effectively allows qualifying homeowners with Fannie Mae mortgages facing foreclosure the opportunity to rent their home at market rate for up to a...
Arkansas Passes Foreclosure Info Law
While housing counseling funding is being slashed, it’s worth noting that Arkansas has enacted a modest yet important law (hat-tip Naked Capitalism) requiring that servicers give homeowners in danger of foreclosure a lot more...
In Case You Missed It: Can Lease Purchase Save Us?
Last week's webinar, “Can Lease Purchase Save Us?,” sponsored by NHI/Shelterforce and NeighborWorks America, provided an in-depth look at the lease purchase model that allows potential homebuyers to rent their intended home until they...
What Can FHFA Learn from the Banks’ Big Mistakes?
This post, submitted by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, is part of an ongoing series based on the National Fair Housing Alliance report, “The Banks Are Back, Our Neighborhoods...
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. FHA and VA loan guarantees are well known and well...
A Different Approach to the Recent Mortgage Settlement
A central feature of the recent $8.5 billion national mortgage settlement is a “throw up the hands and send some checks” approach as a solution to thousands and thousands of...
A New Kind of Redlining: Punishing Success
During the worst years of the Great American Mortgage Meltdown, shared equity homes represented an island of stability in a turbulent sea of market failure. Whether community land trusts (CLTs); limited...
Early Funding is Worth its Weight in Gold
Developing affordable rental housing these days is a lot like putting together a puzzle – when the financing pieces are all in place, a thing of beauty results, but...
Housing Finance Reform Doesn’t Need to Start with Congress
Later this month, as every reader no doubt knows, the Senate Banking committee will mark up the bipartisan housing finance reform bill put forward by Chairman Tim Johnson and...