On Our Radar

WBUR, February 23, 2024, Boston Housing Authority Helps Section 8 Tenants Become First-Time Buyers  pair of programs that seek to pivot Section 8 tenants into new homeowners are gaining traction, according to Boston Housing Authority officials who hope more qualified residents will tap into the opportunities this year. One program includes a $75,000 grant that […]

The New York Times, February 23, 2024, A New ‘Holy Grail’ In The Housing Crisis: Statewide Rent Caps Deemed a priority by the Democratic leaders who control the State Legislature, the bill has cleared the House of Representatives and is now in the Senate. If it is enacted, Washington would become the third state in

The New York Times, February 26, 2024, Rents Are Falling. So Why Isn’t That Showing Up In Inflation Data Overall inflation has eased substantially over the past year. But housing has proved a tenacious — and surprising — exception. The cost of shelter was up 6 percent in January from a year earlier, and rose

Axios Nashville, February 22, 2024, Proposal Would Amend Metro Nashville Charter To Protect Affordable Housing At Fairgrounds A new proposal would change the Metro charter by swapping out auto racing for affordable housing on the list of required programming at the fairgrounds property. Why it matters: The proposal tests the popularity of auto racing at the

WBUR, February 21, 2024, 20 Landlords, Property Companies Sued For Discrimination By Housing Watchdog A nonprofit housing watchdog group is suing 20 Boston-area property companies and real estate brokers for allegedly discriminating against low-income tenants. The lawsuit, brought by the Lawyers for Civil Rights and Handley Farah & Anderson on behalf of the group Housing

Tampa Bay Times, February 14, 2024, This Private Equity Firm Built A Tampa Bay Rental Empire A townhouse overlooking a pond in Clearwater. A brand-new two-story house in a Brandon subdivision, filled with identical buildings. A yellow brick bungalow in Tampa. The homes look strikingly different and are miles apart. But they have a key

WTOP, February 21, 2024, Seven-Figure Home Sales Now Make Up 20% Of The DC Housing Market In January, 20.42% of the homes on the market in the DC metro were priced at $1.5 million or more, and 14.5% were priced between $1.5 million and $2.5 million, according to Long & Foster’s monthly luxury insights report. More

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, February 16, 2024, CFPB Report Finds Large Banks Charge Higher Credit Card Interest Rates than Small Banks and Credit Unions The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reported on the first set of results from the newly updated Terms of Credit Card Plans survey. The survey data reveal that large banks are offering worse credit

Who Makes Cents?: A History Of Capitalism Podcast, February 2024, Tim Keogh On Suburban Poverty And The Roots Of Postwar Inequality In 2022, roughly one in 10 suburban residents lived in poverty (9.6%), compared to about one in six in primary cities (16.2%), according to a recent study by the Brookings Institute. The issue of

Axios, February 16, 2024, Health Care Workers Say Patient Discrimination Is A Big Problem More than half of health care workers say racial discrimination against patients is a major problem or crisis, while nearly half report seeing it happen in their own workplaces, according to a large national survey. Why it matters: It’s well-documented how racism in health care

Planetizen, February 16, 2024, Research: Housing First Works Despite recent opinions that the homelessness response model known as Housing First is too expensive and inefficient, a report from the Urban Institute asserts that “Misconceptions about Housing First ignore decades of evidence of its effectiveness.” According to the report, “Randomized controlled trials in the US and Canada have

Reuters, February 16, 2024, US Single-Family Housing Starts Fall In January; Permits Rise Single-family housing starts, which account for the bulk of homebuilding, dropped 4.7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.004 million units last month, the Commerce Department’s Census Bureau said on Friday. Data for December was revised up to show single-family starts

Stateline, February 13, 2024, Governments Can Erase Your Medical Debt For Pennies On The Dollar–And Some Are Medical debt is the leading cause of bankruptcies in the United States, and more than 2 in 5 American adults have some. In many cases, the money people owe to health care providers forces them to cut spending

The Guardian, February 16, 2024, US Unions Target The Housing Affordability Crisis as Their ‘Biggest Issue’ Housing has been a big issue in the recent rolling strikes by thousands of Los Angeles hotel workers. In Oregon, 400 Yamhill county government employees went on strike in November because, the union said, “many workers are not able to afford housing”.

The New York Times, February 15, 2024, Mayor Adams Is Sued Over Failure To Comply With New Housing Laws The Legal Aid Society sued Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday for not complying with new laws meant to address rising homelessness and the influx of tens of thousands of migrants. In the coming days, the City