Axios, July 7, 2023, The country’s homebuilding hot spots, mapped There were 42.3 new homebuilding permits per 100,000 residents issued nationwide in May 2023, up from 32.9 in May 2020 — the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent estimates from Freddie Mac indicate the U.S. is short about 3.8 million units of housing, either for rent or purchase, Axios’ Emily […]
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Bloomberg, July 7, 2023, Black Workers in the US Account for 90% of Recent Rise in Unemployment The unemployment rate for African Americans jumped for a second straight month in June as workers left the workforce amid early signs of a cooling labor market. That cooling has been uneven: The number of unemployed African Americans has increased
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NPR, July 7, 2023, Homelessness is compounded by more people losing housing because its unaffordable Jeniffer Ludden speaks on rising homelessness, “It’s not like programs to move people into housing don’t work. Los Angeles provides housing for thousands each year. The problem they say is that even more people keep losing housing because it is
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The Journalist’s Resource, July 5, 2023, Mental health disparities in older LGBTQ+ populations: A research roundup Older LGBTQ+ adults have higher rates of anxiety, depression, eating disorders, loneliness and suicidal thoughts, compared with their heterosexual counterparts, studies show. They are also disproportionately affected by substance use disorders, including tobacco, alcohol and other drugs, according to academic research. And,
ABC News, July 4, 2023, Black-owned banks, born out of post-slavery economic barriers, seek to address racial wealth gap Black-owned businesses were about half as likely as white-owned businesses to receive all or most of the financing they requested, according to a 2022 Federal Reserve report. The struggle to find capital isn’t new. After the
Gothamist, July 10, 2023, What if NYC had its own public bank? There are billions of reasons to consider it, report says. New York City is missing out on thousands of new affordable apartments and billions of dollars in local investments without a publicly owned bank to deposit its cash, according to an analysis by
The Epoch Times, July 7, 2023, IN-DEPTH: Bank Branch Closures Leave Vacant Buildings, Inconvenienced Customers 9 percent of all branch locations in the United States closed between 2017 and 2021, according to a report (pdf) by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC). It amounts to a loss of about 7,500 brick-and-mortar locations. The branch closure
Orlando Business Journal, July 4, 2023, These banks have closed the most Central Florida branches so far this year the National Community Reinvestment Coalition tracked over 9,882 bank branches that have closed nationwide over the past five years, including 2,457 bank branches during 2021-22. Why this matters:Banks have changed how they approach branches as more
Yahoo Finance, July 1, 2023, Florida law limiting foreign real estate investors ‘borders on redlining’ The bill signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in May bans citizens from Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and Syria from purchasing agricultural land in the state. It would also restrict foreigners from those countries from buying real estate within 20
Washington Post, June 27, 2023, EPA closes civil rights investigation into Louisiana pollution In a setback for environmental justice advocates, the Biden administration has closed a civil rights investigation of two Louisiana state agencies without finding discrimination in how the agencies regulated chemical plants in the area known as “Cancer Alley.” The [Louisiana] attorney general
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New York Times, June 26, 2023, What Is Happening in the Housing Market? Mortgage rates are now hovering around 7 percent — the highest they’ve been since 2007 — thanks to the Federal Reserve’s efforts to tame inflation. Central bankers have lifted their official policy rate to about 5 percent over the past 15 months,
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Portland Press Herald, June 26, 2023, Portland could become home to the state’s first affordable housing for older LGBTQ+ adults The first affordable housing complex for the LGBTQ+ community and its allies over age 55 in Maine is being developed in Portland. “There are lots of challenges for older LGBTQ+ adults and housing is one
Politico, June 27, 2023, ‘I don’t want to become San Francisco’: Urban woes spur state action on housing Officials in Washington state and Vermont looked at the housing crisis in San Francisco this year and took action to prevent the same thing happening in their states: They effectively banned single-family zoning. While San Francisco’s well-documented
Washington Post, June 28, 2023, Push to tie Medicaid to work is making a comeback. Georgia is at forefront. Weeks after [Georgia Governor] Kemp was sworn in, his allies in the legislature began working on a plan. It envisioned a more limited Medicaid expansion for able-bodied adults — with or without children — than is
Zillow, June 22, 2023, Affordability Crisis: United States Needs 4.3 Million More Homes Across the country in 2021, there were roughly 8 million missing households – individuals or families living with non-relatives, potentially preferring to live on their own – compared to just 3.7 million housing units available for rent or for sale, a deficit
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