Jul/Aug 2002
Issue #124
Millennial Housing Commission
It’s official. America has a housing crisis. The report of the Millennial Housing Commission says so. Not that anyone outside of the housing movement would have noticed, since its release was not covered by the national media. The report should have gotten more attention, even if some of its recommendations are less than stellar, as Chester Hartman writes. The report puts Congress and the administration on notice about the housing crisis, but like the administration, assumes that the right incentives will spur the private sector to end the housing crisis. Never underestimate the value of protest and action in moving an agenda. For an issue that gets virtually no national press, action in support of affordable housing is one of the best ways to raise public awareness and tell legislators where the people stand on the issues. And direct action is on the upsurge. Many community-based organizations are taking another form of direct action by creating their own newspapers to inform and organize. And these local papers, Jordan Moss writes, are winning impressive victories for their communities while at the same time bringing their stories to the attention of mainstream media.
The Power of the Community Press
When grassroots groups in the North Lawndale community of Chicago protested the lack of local labor in the reconstruction of an elevated subway line, the North Lawndale Community News made […]
Millennial Misfire: the Millennial Housing Commission Report
It’s telling that the nation’s major news media virtually ignored the Millennial Housing Commission’s May 30 press conference and the release of its report, and hardly anything was in the […]
Landlords Blacklist Activist Tenants
“You can’t get an apartment if you were evicted,” said the broker before she hung up on me. “The reason doesn’t matter.” I had already been refused two apartments because […]
Beyond the Fringe: Predatory Financial Services
When the Maryland Center for Community Development (MCCD) began to examine the financial services available to low-income people statewide in 1999, its goal was to learn more about why individuals […]
Stepping Up the Pressure on Payday Lenders
Payday loans – one- or two-week consumer loans with exorbitant interest rates – are the antithesis of sound community banking. But banks that should know better are affiliating with payday […]
Livable and Affordable: Good design in affordable housing
Although many developers consider “good design” an unnecessary frill, it can contribute to affordability. In fact, poor design can compromise the effort to address the needs of the 30 to […]
Old Story – New Twist
Thankfully, it’s not 1991 all over again. Despite similarities and some setbacks, there are hopeful signs ahead. Most of our readers know that the National Housing Trust Fund Act has […]
Shelter Shorts: Community Development News
Down But Not Out The campaign for a National Housing Trust Fund suffered a setback in July, when the House Financial Services Committee voted 35-34 to reject the establishment of […]
High Stakes for Public Housing: Organizing Public Housing Residents
The Millennial Housing Commission (MHC) report represents stage two in an agenda to give increased decision-making powers to local public housing agencies, and target federal assistance for public housing away […]
Nonprofit Enterprise
For someone who’s spent 20 years trying to right the wrongs created by our economic system, I’ve come to a startling discovery: Commerce can be used to create social change. […]
Boom – The Sound of Eviction
Boom – The Sound of Eviction (96 minutes, 2002), a documentary directed by Francine Cavanaugh, A. Mark Liiv, and Adams Wood. Individuals $20 donation + $3 postage; institutions $200 + […]
FHA, Turning an American Dream into a Neighborhood Nightmare
Neighborhood leaders know that it is impossible to truly revitalize communities without solving the severe housing abandonment and foreclosure problems plaguing urban areas. It is this premise that led National […]