CRA “Reform” Under Trump Threatens Communities of Color and the 99 Percent
Banks enjoy consumer and taxpayer-funded privileges, such as deposit insurance, and not too long ago, subsidized trillion-dollar bailouts. It’s not too much to insist that they invest a fair share of those dollars back into all of our communities.
Warren Housing Bill Presents a Clear Choice on CRA
Senator Elizabeth Warren and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency have offered contrasting visions for the future of CRA. How do they differ, and what would the implications for historically disinvested communities be?
Criticisms About Community Preference Policies Are Misguided
Community preference policies have been challenged by those inside and outside of government who fail to see or value the anti-displacement benefits of the policy.
The CARES Act Was Supposed to Protect NJ Tenants from Eviction. It Didn’t.
State activists say eviction cases were filed in violation of the CARES Act’s ban on evictions. Pre-trial settlement conferences are further complicating the situation.
The Continued Importance of Fair Lending in the Age of Obama
Housing discrimination continues to plague the market, as does the myth that the housing crisis resulted from extending homeownership and home mortgage credit to historically underserved groups: minority families. Even with the Obama administration's Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan and, within that, the Making Home Affordable program, minority groups continue to suffer ongoing discrimination and fair housing violations.
Interview with Senator Robert Menendez
Shelterforce talks with Sen. Robert Menendez about the ongoing federal response to the housing crisis, the Sustainable Communities Initiative, the Occupy movement, and more.
Candidate (and Tenant) Perry’s Housing Record
In June, Rooflines published a piece by Kevin Jewell, a consultant for the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service outlining Texas Governor Rick Perry’s...
Toxic Assets: The Diagnosis Comes Too Late for Foreclosed Homeowners
From AFP today:
The 700-billion dollar Wall Street bailout plan, put together last week by the U.S. administration, would allow the U.S .Treasury to sell...
The Inauguration: View from a Chicago Diner
At the risk of sounding cliché, hope was in the air as thick as the smell of grilling bacon and the steam from oatmeal...
The Suburban Frontier Won’t Provide the Answers
There’s a clever term that gets thrown around in densely populated and densely developed areas like New Jersey, where all the land’s spoken for....
HUD’s Rental Assistance Demonstration Launches
It took a few iterations, but HUD last week officially rolled out a demonstration project designed to showcase its plan to address the capital...
Public Benefits and Bank Mergers
Community organizations are generally aware that when a bank wants to acquire another bank, it must submit a merger...
Carson Tries to Please Everyone in Confirmation Hearing, Mostly Succeeds
Triage is in effect among those opposed to the incoming administration and the president-elect's cabinet picks. This morning’s Senate...
A Policy Agenda for Manufactured Home Owners
In Minnesota, ten mobile home communities have closed in the past twenty-five years, and no new ones have opened. This uncertainty affects nearly 3 million Americans who are residents in the nation’s 50,000 manufactured housing communities. While most of these homeowners own their own homes, they rent the land, leaving them vulnerable to dramatic rent increases, arbitrary rules, and even eviction.
Shelter Shorts—The Week in Community Development, May 4
A Trauma-Centered Approach to Youth Violence in Cleveland | We May Know Who Benefits From Port Covington | What Housing Crisis? | Clearing Homeless Encampments in Philadelphia | Restaurant Tax for Affordable Housing
It Takes Strong Roots to Achieve Climate Justice
Throughout 2018's Sol-2-Sol climate justice convening, indigenous people led many of the actions and activities.
Reaching Out to Voters in the Justice System
Many people lose their right to vote while incarcerated and don’t regain it after their sentences are over. There are many more people involved in the justice system who can vote but don’t know it. Communities could increase their political power if they could reach these voters.
We Need Rental Registries Now More Than Ever
Most communities lack a way of collecting real-time data on whether landlords are complying with rules. A rental registry could change that.
PETRA Perspectives: National Low-Income Housing Coalition
The National Low Income Housing Coalition wants to be able to support PETRA, but has some concerns.
Interview with Former HUD Secretaries Senator Mel Martinez and Mayor Henry Cisneros
At the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Housing Summit on Sept. 15 and 16, five former HUD secretaries joined a panel discussing their time at the...