Looking to Alternative Markets for Housing, Jobs, and Assets
My understanding of the community development field is shaped by a decade working with neighborhood-based and mission-driven community development organizations. Whether by working with...
Community Development and Ending Homelessness
The discussion of homelessness is dominated by stories of personal mistakes, bad luck, and mental illness. In contrast to this narrative, we know that...
Bank Fees of a Different Kind
A proposed bank accountability bill in California that had received considerable national attention has suffered something of a set back, but that doesn’t mean...
Neighborhood Information is NOT Just for the Experts
In 1997 a group of housing activists and their supporters came to focus attention on the deterioration of residential conditions in Los Angeles. Self-named...
Housing Counseling in Crisis
In April, when the so-called budget compromise for continued FY2011 funding was reached, the entire $88 million HUD Housing Counseling budget was left in...
Fighting for the Trust Fund
When we reported earlier this year on the often-frustrating saga of finding a legislative home for the as yet unfunded National Housing Trust Fund...
What Affordable Housing Enforcement?
In 2010, N.J. Governor Chris Christie introduced legislation to abolish the Council on Affordable Housing, the enforcement body for New Jersey’s fair share affordable...
Winning Back the Government’s Love (and Money)
Community developers are in a dead-end relationship with the government. For three decades, the government has exploited us, giving less and demanding more. It...
The Regional/Local Dance
Q & A with Kimberley Burnett
Taking a Sustainable Approach
Over the next 36 years, the biggest issue facing community developers will be energy. Many experts say we have already hit peak oil production...
QRM’s Downstream Effect
The discussion around how to define a qualified residential mortgage (QRM) has dragged on for over a year now, with no end in sight....
Holding Banks Responsible
The Chicago City Council is becoming one in a line of local governments to consider legislation to hold lenders more responsible for properties they...
Foreclosure-Free (Almost) Homeownership
Homeowners in community land trusts (CLTs) across the nation continue to have substantially lower delinquency and foreclosure rates than owners of market-rate homes, according...
What Is Philanthropic Equity? A Roundtable Discussion
As we prepared this issue, the term "philanthropic equity" kept surfacing. What is this new concept in philanthropy, and how is it different from both traditional grantmaking and program-related investments? In December we gathered a group of people from foundations and nonprofit intermediaries to explore the concept, its promises and pitfalls.
Speed ‘Em Up or Slow ‘Em Down?
As all 50 U.S. attorneys general launched a joint investigation into massive foreclosure fraud — robosigning, which was covering up the underlying problem that...
Punitive Measures for Walk-Aways
A few years ago, we warned that lenders, particularly GSEs like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, would take punitive measures on people who made...
The Changing Model of CDCs
Staying relevant in a changing economy will push CDCs to place importance on green initiatives, sustainability, and out-of-the box funding methods.
Filling the Talent Pool in Newark
Talk about an educated community. Newark, New Jersey, has given the green light to a “teachers village” that will comprise three charter schools, 1,000...
Florida Flipper Nabbed in Cleveland
The head of a sham financial corporation was arrested late last year for illegally flipping hundreds of homes in several Ohio counties, including Cuyahoga...
Safe Havens
I grew up in a low- to moderate-income community in a single-parent-headed household. For a time my mother was working three jobs to sustain...