“To help renters find out if they are protected from evictions during the COVID-19 national health emergency, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced today that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) have created online multifamily property lookup tools. The property lookup tools allow renters to find out if the multifamily property where they reside… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Housing
Books on wheels – When the library comes to the homeless shelter
Christian Science Monitor – “The bookmobile has a history of bringing the written word to people who can’t get to a library building. Queens has taken that ethos further, parking its mobile library at homeless shelters in the borough…Over the past decade, scholars and social workers have noted how public libraries around the country are… Continue Reading
Lumber Salvaged from Baltimore’s Row Houses and City Trees Creates Jobs and Cuts Wood Waste
TheCityFix: “Baltimore, like many post-industrial cities, confronts novel challenges. Once the sixth largest city in the U.S., Baltimore’s population has contracted by more than a third, resulting from a complex suite of factors including job loss, economic decline, and discriminatory policies or housing and lending practices. It’s estimated that at least 16,000 buildings in Baltimore are boarded up; most are slated for demolition. But… Continue Reading
Sea-level rise could flood hundreds of millions more than expected
MIT Technology Review – Princeton researchers found that far more people are living closer to the ocean than previously believed. “By the end of this century, rising oceans will almost certainly flood the lands where tens of millions of people live as accelerating climate change warms the waters and melts ice sheets. But precise estimates… Continue Reading
Zillow Is Buying And Selling Lots Of Homes And It’s Almost Half Its Business Now
BuzzFeedNews – Zillow made more than 40% of its revenue last quarter from selling homes: “Zillow, the real estate search and advertising platform, has gotten into the house-flipping business in a big way. That means the company earned about 41.5% of its revenue from selling homes in the three months ending June 30, according to… Continue Reading
The college students who live in homeless shelters
Politico: “As college costs rise to the top of the American political debate, the housing crisis faced by many students has recently begun to surface as an underappreciated crisis that can be far more harmful than even the high price of tuition. This week, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders revamped his “College for All” education… Continue Reading
Why Have Americans Stopped Moving?
SafeHaven: “A new study identifies powerful psychological factors that connect people to places, and mean more to them than money. Mobility in the United States has fallen to record lows. In 1985, nearly 20 percent of Americans had changed their residence within the preceding 12 months, but by 2018, fewer than ten percent had. That’s the lowest… Continue Reading
United States Congress Creates AI Task Force
“Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairwoman of the House Committee on Financial Services, announced the creation of a Task Force on Artificial Intelligence chaired by Congressman Bill Foster (D-IL). “I am excited to Chair the Financial Services Committee’s Task Force on Artificial Intelligence and I thank Chairwoman Waters for her foresight in creating this important… Continue Reading
Visualizing Income Inequality in Boston
“The Atlas of Inequality is a project from the Human Dynamics group at the MIT Media Lab and the Department of Mathematics at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. It is part of a broader initiative to understand human behavior in our cities and how large-scale problems like transportation, housing, segregation or inequality depend in part… Continue Reading
OECD survey of 21 counties – many people unhappy with public services and benefits
“Many people in OECD countries believe public services and social benefits are inadequate and hard to reach. More than half say they do not receive their fair share of benefits given the taxes they pay, and two-thirds believe others get more than they deserve. Nearly three out of four people say they want their government… Continue Reading
The Lewis and Clark of the Digital Building Frontier
The New York Times – These married architects are democratizing the 3-D printing process, using materials destined for the trash heap — like curry powder and coffee grounds — in place of drywall and foam. “On a bone-chilling day here with the winter rains pelting down, the architects Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello retreated… Continue Reading
The economic costs and benefits of Airbnb
Economic Policy Institute – No reason for local policymakers to let Airbnb bypass tax or regulatory obligations. “…In our cost-benefit analysis, we find: The economic costs Airbnb imposes likely outweigh the benefits. While the introduction and expansion of Airbnb into U.S. cities and cities around the world carries large potential economic benefits and costs, the… Continue Reading
