Mar/Apr 2001
Issue #116
Steering and Segregation
The subtle (and some not-so-subtle) ways that the real estate industry influences homebuying through indirect communication about race. Systematic discrimination and steering by brokers, as well as questionable advertising and data marketing practices, are formidable obstacles to housing justice. A look at Pittsburgh, where four inner city communities that have suffered decades of various forms of urban renewal and attempts to transplant suburbia have organized community planning processes to support projects based on traditional neighborhood design. And the story of two inspiring CBOs, one founded during the first Bush administration and one long before that. Seattle’s Low Income Housing Institute has grown tremendously in its 10 years, combining successful affordable housing development with outspoken advocacy and grappling with what it means to do both. Boston’s 28-year-old Fenway CDC is also balancing development and organizing in a neighborhood that has gone through rapid gentrification and may soon be home to a new baseball stadium.
Be Pragmatic and Persistent
In the midst of the recent presidential campaign, the Wall Street Journal declared, “Despite Sky-High Rents and Prices, Housing Is the Forgotten Issue in Race.” “People don’t expect the federal […]
Expand Upon Successes and Seize New Opportunities
George W. Bush is often described as a man who believes in limited government, personal responsibility, strong families and local initiative. It’s too early to forecast with precision how these […]
Keep Growing the Grassroots
The Bush administration, in its first appointments and executive orders, has made it clear that labor unions, and working people in general, will be primary targets. Conservatives are worried about […]
Expand Your Base, Hold Democrats Accountable
ACORN members don’t expect much from the Bush administration, but for an organization that got its start during the Nixon years, and thrived through the Ford, Reagan, and Bush Sr. […]
The Importance of Design (Community Development and New Urbanism)
We need a marriage of CDC work and urban design,” says Sandy Phillips of the Manchester-Bidwell Development Corporation and former director of the Pittsburgh Partnership for Neighborhood Development. “Nonprofit urban […]
Fenway’s Formidable Force
As it celebrates its 28th anniversary, Boston’s Fenway Community Development Corporation (FCDC) is at an interesting point in its history. The need to preserve and develop affordable housing in the […]
Not Afraid To Speak Up
As the World Trade Organization (WTO) prepared for its meetings in Seattle in November 1999, homeless advocates were worried that street sweeps to clean up downtown for the meetings would […]
Everything Old is New Again
It’s déjà vu at every turn these days. Colin Powell is visiting the Middle East. Airline workers are not allowed to strike. The economy is getting bumpy, and the administration […]
Shelter Shorts
Budget Blues and Fuzzy Math The Bush administration claims that its FY 2002 budget blueprint contains a $1.9 billion dollar increase for HUD. Not so, say Rep. John J. LaFalce […]
Involving union welfare office workers in welfare organizing
The Organization of the NorthEast (ONE) has over 70 members: religious congregations, social service agencies, ethnic associations and businesses from three diverse lakefront Chicago neighborhoods – Rogers Park, Uptown and […]
Program Related Investments (PRIs)
The term “program-related investment” (PRI) was first coined in the Tax Reform Act of 1969. As currently defined in the tax code, a PRI is any investment by a foundation […]
Going After the Predators
In the 1990s, minority and working class communities benefited from a significant increase in home and small business lending. Exploiting the rising homeownership in these traditionally underserved communities, predatory lenders […]
Legislative News
Committee Membership The first two months of the 107th Congress have been spent mostly on internal organization. Since the Senate is split 50-50, both parties have equal membership on committees, […]
Magical Urbanism
Magical Urbanism: Latinos Reinvent the U.S. Big City, By Mike Davis Verso Press, June 2000 129 pp. Globalization is the overarching theme of our times. This inter-penetration of culture, economics […]
From the Puritans to the Projects
From the Puritans to the Projects: Public Housing and Publlic Neighbors, by Lawrence J. Vale. Howard University Press , 2000 392 pp. Exclusionary zoning, middle class flight, housing discrimination, segregation, […]