When Karen Bass took office as Los Angeles mayor with a mandate to tackle homelessness, Venice Beach was at the top of her agenda. By late 2022, more than 100 people were living there in wall-to-wall tents alongside seven-figure bungalows, a shop selling $180 linen pillowcases and the Gold’s Gym that Arnold Schwarzenegger made famous. […]
Read MoreTag: Affordable Housing
Biden Suggests a Bigger Federal Role to Reduce Housing Costs
Economists in the Biden administration are calling for more aggressive federal action to drive down costs for home buyers and renters, taking aim at one of the biggest economic challenges facing President Biden as he runs for re-election. The policy proposals in a White House report being released on Thursday include what could be an […]
Read MoreBiden’s Next Big Campaign Front: Affordable Housing
Although Biden’s proposal is the most comprehensive housing plan proposed by a president in recent memory, it is not invulnerable to critique from housing experts. Biden’s planned tax credits may not go as far as the administration might hope in avoiding the “lock-in” effect, wherein homeowners are reluctant to give up their low mortgage rate […]
Read MoreBiden’s Next Big Campaign Front: Affordable Housing
Although Biden’s proposal is the most comprehensive housing plan proposed by a president in recent memory, it is not invulnerable to critique from housing experts. Biden’s planned tax credits may not go as far as the administration might hope in avoiding the “lock-in” effect, wherein homeowners are reluctant to give up their low mortgage rate […]
Read MoreBiden Wants to Boost Affordable Housing. Easier Said Than Done.
Although Biden’s proposal is the most comprehensive housing plan proposed by a president in recent memory, it is not invulnerable to critique from housing experts. Biden’s planned tax credits may not go as far as the administration might hope in avoiding the “lock-in” effect, wherein homeowners are reluctant to give up their low mortgage rate […]
Read MoreParis Preserves Its Mixed Society by Pouring Billions Into Public Housing
The two-bedroom penthouse comes with sweeping views of the Eiffel Tower and just about every other monument across the Paris skyline. The rent, at 600 euros a month, is a steal. Marine Vallery-Radot, 51, the apartment’s tenant, said she cried when she got the call last summer that hers was among 253 lower-income families chosen […]
Read MoreIn Hospitals, Affordable Housing Gets the Long-Term Investor It Needs
Ce’Yann Irving, a mother of a 1-year-old daughter, pays $990 a month for a two-bedroom apartment on the site of a former dairy processing plant in the Central City neighborhood of New Orleans. She has amenities, like a 24-hour gym and an on-site community clinic, at arm’s reach. “I’m a first-time mom, so if my […]
Read MoreNY Senate Democrats Propose a Plan to Fix the Housing Crisis
To address a growing housing crisis, leaders in New York’s State Senate are set to propose sweeping legislation on Monday that would encourage new construction, establish new tenant protections and also revive some older ideas for building affordable housing. Among them: the creation of a new public benefit corporation that would finance housing construction on […]
Read MoreThe Surprising Left-Right Alliance That Wants More Apartments in Suburbs
For years, the Yimbytown conference was an ideologically safe space where liberal young professionals could talk to other liberal young professionals about the particular problems of cities with a lot of liberal young professionals: not enough bike lanes and transit, too many restrictive zoning laws. The event began in 2016 in Boulder, Colo., and has […]
Read MoreThe Surprising Left-Right Alliance That Wants More Apartments in Suburbs
For years, the Yimbytown conference was an ideologically safe space where liberal young professionals could talk to other liberal young professionals about the particular problems of cities with a lot of liberal young professionals: not enough bike lanes and transit, too many restrictive zoning laws. The event began in 2016 in Boulder, Colo., and has […]
Read MoreGa. Man Returns Home from Short Trip to Find Squatters Changed The Locks and Moved In
Imagine leaving your home to care for a loved one and coming back to find your key won’t turn the lock. Apparently, this happened to a Georgia resident who is now forced to take legal action to get the intruders kicked out. Small Town Horror Story: The Shopping Cart Killer Off English Paul Callins tells […]
Read MoreThe Return of Trump’s Housing Policy Would Be a Horror Show
In contrast to the Trump administration’s annual requests to hollow out HUD, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have asked Congress to expand the agency’s budget each year. Moreover, current HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge has wisely declined to continue the Opportunity Zone boondoggle. Fudge has also reversed Carson’s egregious rule changes and is working to […]
Read MoreA Return to Trump’s Housing Policies Would Be a Disaster
In contrast to the Trump administration’s annual requests to hollow out HUD, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have asked Congress to expand the agency’s budget each year. Moreover, current HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge has wisely declined to continue the Opportunity Zone boondoggle. Fudge has also reversed Carson’s egregious rule changes and is working to […]
Read MoreHudson Valley Towns Have a Big City Problem: The Rent Is Way Too High
It had become unbearable for Troy Mongillo and his girlfriend, Amanda Pabon, to spend time at home. The construction noise was constant, utilities were frequently shut off, and the insulation beneath their apartment was removed just before winter as the new owners of their building in Beacon, N.Y., renovated the vacant retail space downstairs into […]
Read MoreWhat is Teacherville? Non-Profit Creates Affordable Path To Homeownership For Black Educators
NewsOne Featured Video Source: Jacob Wackerhausen / Getty School districts throughout Indianapolis are struggling to retain Black educators due to low compensation. Still, one non-profit organization is doing the work to protect the financial well-being of those in need. In 2023, The Educate Me Foundation unveiled its Teacherville program offering support to Black educators by […]
Read MoreCan a New Law Force Airbnb Hosts to Become Landlords?
If you were planning a trip to New York City for Presidents’ Day weekend and logged onto Airbnb Wednesday morning, the first two listings to turn up might have vexed you. One was for a hotel room on Park Avenue South, and the second was for a townhouse apartment in Jersey City, advertised for its […]
Read MoreNew York Reimagined Subsidized Housing. What Happened?
This story is from Headway, an initiative from The New York Times exploring the world’s challenges through the lens of progress. Headway looks for promising solutions, notable experiments and lessons from what’s been tried. “A beacon.” That was how Shaun Donovan, former commissioner of New York City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, heralded Via […]
Read MoreThis Florida Mall Has Gucci, Prada … and Soon, Affordable Housing?
In Bal Harbour, Fla., an oceanside village north of Miami Beach, a luxury mall says it wants to help tackle one of the nation’s — and Florida’s — most intractable problems: a lack of affordable housing. It is an unexpected move for a retail temple where Gucci, Chanel and Rolex are on offer. Affordable? Here? […]
Read MoreWhat Might Replace 421a, the Law That Got NYC Housing Built?
Nearly every debate about New York’s housing crisis involves a state program called “421a.” But what is it? On one level, it’s a simple idea: Give developers a property tax break to build housing in New York City that might otherwise be a drag on their bottom line. The program was first put in place […]
Read MoreAmerica’s Rent Crisis Is Getting Worse
Rather than rely on market forces to create affordable housing (Build, baby, build!), I think government will have to intervene more directly. In his 2023 book Poverty, by America, the Princeton sociologist Matthew Desmond observes, cuttingly, that “liberals have a despondency problem: fluent in the language of grievance and bumbling in the language of repair.” […]
Read MoreAmid a Housing Crunch, Religious Groups Unlock Land to Build Homes
Emma Budway, a 26-year-old autistic woman who is mostly nonverbal, had been living with her parents in Arlington, Va. She longed for her own place, but because she earned little income, she could not afford to move out. So when the opportunity came to move into a two-bedroom apartment in December 2019, she jumped at […]
Read MoreWhat’s in the New Tax Deal?
Lawmakers on the House Ways and Means Committee will attempt a rare feat on Friday when they begin debate on something that rarely comes together in an election year: bipartisan tax legislation. A group of top Republicans and Democrats reached agreement this week on a $78 billion package that would expand a tax benefit that […]
Read More‘The Social Contract Has Been Completely Ruptured’: Ireland’s Housing Crisis
Before sunrise each day, Aoife Diver, a teacher in Dublin, gets into her car and drives for up to 90 minutes from her uncle’s house to the opposite side of the Irish capital. After school, it is back in the car for the reverse commute. On a recent evening, Ms. Diver, 25, sat in stop-and-go […]
Read More‘The Social Contract Has Completely Ruptured’: Ireland’s Housing Crisis
Before sunrise each day, Aoife Diver, a teacher in Dublin, gets into her car and drives for up to 90 minutes from her uncle’s house to the opposite side of the Irish capital. After school, it is back in the car for the reverse commute. On a recent evening, Ms. Diver, 25, sat in stop-and-go […]
Read More5 Takeaways From Kathy Hochul’s State of the State Address
In her third State of the State address, Gov. Kathy Hochul on Tuesday laid out her vision for the coming legislative session and described objectives that often were more of a reflection of her moderate roots than the state’s recent progressive slant. She made crime a focal point, while barely mentioning the migrant crisis that […]
Read MoreAustin Takes a Big Bet on Tiny Homes to Ease Homelessness
On the outskirts of Austin, Texas, what began as a fringe experiment has quickly become central to the city’s efforts to reduce homelessness. To Justin Tyler Jr., it is home. Mr. Tyler, 41, lives in Community First! Village, which aims to be a model of permanent affordable housing for people who are chronically homeless. In […]
Read MoreLet Flannery Associates Try to Build a Bay Area City
A company backed by Silicon Valley’s most powerful investors, including the LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and the venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, assembled a land empire outside San Francisco and announced a bold vision to build a brand-new city — and was immediately castigated by the world’s urbanists. Critics describe the effort by the company, Flannery […]
Read MoreNew York City Aims to Build Affordable Housing in Wealthier Neighborhoods
New York City officials on Tuesday will put forward a plan to direct public money toward mixed-income housing projects in wealthier neighborhoods — a proposal aimed at addressing the lack of affordable housing and spurring development after a lucrative property tax exemption lapsed last year. Currently, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development uses city […]
Read MoreFederal Housing Assistance Shrinks as Cost of Rent Rises
As the safety net has expanded over the past generation, the food stamp rolls have doubled, Medicaid enrollment has tripled and payments from the earned-income tax credit have nearly quadrupled. But one major form of aid has grown more scarce. After decades of rising rents, housing assistance for the poorest tenants has fallen to the […]
Read MoreHow College Football Is Clobbering Housing Markets Across the Country
The Georgia Bulldogs — the two-time defending national champions — draw some 90,000 spectators to Sanford Stadium for six or seven home games every fall, essentially creating an alternate market for short-term rentals that lasts about three months. Real estate investors are buying and building homes for fans who will pay hundreds or even thousands […]
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