On Our Radar

The New York Times, May 9, 2024, A Little-Known Way Home Buyers Can Beat High Mortgage Rates Home prices were already high when Ellen Harper, a software architect living in Atlanta, started searching for a house in 2021. But she couldn’t have anticipated the quick surge in interest rates the next year, and, even with […]

Axios, May 9, 2024, Housing Summit Offers Affordability Solutions NWA has long been a desirable place to live because of its amenities, schools, university and low cost of living. But it’s at risk of losing the affordability that makes it appealing, McLarty said. Housing costs also directly affect corporations’ ability to attract and retain talent.

The New York Times, May 9, 2024, A Plan To Help Harlem Students Build Wealth: Start Them Off With $10,000 A New York City nonprofit group, flush with millions in private capital, is piloting a first-of-its-kind savings program to address the racial wealth gap — by giving thousands of students in Harlem $10,000 each to

Planetizen, May 8, 2024, Ten Trends Shaping Affordable Housing Passive House design takes the top spot, signaling the growing importance of sustainability in building practices. “In today’s affordable housing landscape, request for proposals (RFPs) are identifying a desire for net zero operational, Passive House, and WELL building standards—more than just green design.” Builders are also including

Urban Institute, April 19, 2024, The Wealth Gap Between Homeowners And Renters Has Reached A Historic High The significantly wider gap in average wealth (compared with median wealth) indicates that a large share of wealth is concentrated among a small share of households. Because of this, in a new analysis, we explore the reasons for

NPR, May 7, 2024, Toxic Culture Is The Norm At The FDIC, Outside Review Cites 500 Employee Complaints An outside review of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation found a toxic workplace where hundreds of employees complained of sexual harassment, discrimination and other misconduct which went largely ignored by the agency’s management. The investigation was commissioned after a scathing

Politico, May 7, 2024, What The Pandemic Taught California About Housing Project Roomkey, Newsom’s emergency plan for housing people and slowing the spread of the virus during the height of the pandemic, brought about 62,000 people into hotel rooms using state and federal money, according to a new outside report from the firm Abt Global,

Politico, May 7, 2024, Eric Adams Said Their Water Was Safe. Public Housing Residents Say They’re Getting Sick. Hill is not alone: Several similarly ailing neighbors at the Jacob Riis Houses in Manhattan’s East Village, a sprawling complex run by the New York City Housing Authority, share her concern that their tap water is to

Mother Jones, May 7, 2024, From Toxic Mold To Fraud: How Privatizing Military Housing Became A Nightmare For Service Members Dudek suspected that the root cause of all these health problems was mold from the water damage; official Army guidance indicates water damage should be addressed within 48 hours to minimize the risk of mold.

Yahoo Finance, May 6, 2024, Return To The ’70s? Today’s Housing Market Has Echoes Of Dark Era. High inflation and a disappointing report on economic growth — followed by a sudden drop in stocks late last month — made for a familiar economic combination. These conditions were hallmarks of the 1970s, when inflation ran high, leading the

Bloomberg, May 6, 2024, Massachusetts Eyes Mansion Tax To Fund Affordable Housing Governor Maura Healey’s $4 billion housing bond bill, the state’s biggest-ever investment in its residential stock, includes a provision allowing cities to impose a transfer fee of 0.5% to 2% on property sales exceeding $1 million. The revenue generated would go toward affordable housing projects.

The Wall Street Journal, May 4, 2024, Texas Ban On ‘Woke’ Banks Opens Door For Smaller Firms The clash over environmental, social and corporate-governance investing follows state restrictions passed in 2021 on government business with financial firms perceived as taking a stand against firearms or fossil fuels. Wall Street heavyweights such as Bank of America and Wells Fargo have

CNBC, May 1, 2024, Why Hundreds Of US Banks May Be At Risk Of Failure Consulting firm Klaros Group analyzed about 4,000 U.S. banks and found 282 banks face the dual threat of commercial real estate loans and potential losses tied to higher interest rates. The majority of those banks are smaller lenders with less than

The Hill, May 1, 2024, Affordable Housing Crisis Looms Large In Election A White House report released in March found that although incomes have doubled since 2000, housing prices have tripled, meaning the housing prices rose 50 percent faster than income over the past two decades. The median home price recently hit $383,725, a record high that’s

Vox, April 30, 2024, After Decades Of Inaction, States Are Finally Stepping Up On Housing Over the last five years, Republican and Democratic legislators and governors in a slew of states have looked to update zoning codes, transform residential planning processes, and improve home-building and design requirements. Some states that have stepped up include Oregon, Florida, Montana, and California,