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Category Archives: Housing

Updated Household Projections, 2015 – 2035: Methodology and Results

“Using new Census Bureau projections and a revised methodology for predicting headship rates, this paper updates the Harvard University Joint Center for Housing Studies’ (JCHS) household projections for 2015 to 2035. The paper incorporates new population projections from the US Census Bureau that are substantially larger than the Census Bureau’s previous projections.The paper also makes… Continue Reading

GAO Report on Climate Change

Climate Change: Improved Federal Coordination Could Facilitate Use of Forward-Looking Climate Information in Design Standards, Building Codes, and Certifications, GAO-17-3: Published: Nov 30, 2016. Publicly Released: Jan 3, 2017. “The houses we live in, buildings we work in, and roads and bridges we use daily are supposed to be built to last—whatever the local forecast… Continue Reading

US Sues Barclays Bank to Recover Civil Penalties for Fraud in the Sale of Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities

News release: “The United States Department of Justice today filed a civil complaint in the Eastern District of New York against Barclays Bank PLC and several of its United States affiliates (together, Barclays), alleging that Barclays engaged in a fraudulent scheme to sell residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) supported by defective and misrepresented mortgage loans.  As… Continue Reading

In a Recovering Market, Homeownership Rates Are Down Sharply for Blacks, Young Adults

“Even as home values climb back from the dramatic fall that helped set off the Great Recession, homeownership in the United States stands at its lowest level in at least 20 years. As of the third quarter of this year only 63.5% of households own their homes, down significantly from the modern peak of 69.0%… Continue Reading

GAO Report on Homeless Veterans

Homeless Veterans: Management Improvements Could Help VA Better Identify Supportive-Housing Projects, GAO-17-101: Published: Dec 21, 2016. Publicly Released: Dec 21, 2016. “As of September 2016, for veterans who were homeless or at risk of homelessness, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) had developed 35 enhanced-use leases (EUL) for supportive-housing with low cost rental housing and… Continue Reading

A history of global living conditions in 5 charts

“A recent survey asked “All things considered, do you think the world is getting better or worse, or neither getting better nor worse?”. In Sweden 10% thought things are getting better, in the US they were only 6%, and in Germany only 4%. Very few people think that the world is getting better. What is… Continue Reading

NYT – The Secret Agenda of a Facebook Quiz

The Secret Agenda of a Facebook Quiz, McKenzie Funk, NY Times, Nov. 19, 2016 [Commentary/Op-Ed] “For several years, a data firm eventually hired by the Trump campaign, Cambridge Analytica, has been using Facebook as a tool to build psychological profiles that represent some 230 million adult Americans. A spinoff of a British consulting company and… Continue Reading

New York Times series on private equity and privatization of services and products

Part 1: When You Dial 911 and Wall Street Answers “The business of driving ambulances and operating fire brigades represents just one facet of a profound shift on Wall Street and Main Street alike, a New York Times investigation has found. Since the 2008 financial crisis, private equity firms, the “corporate raiders” of an earlier… Continue Reading

Open Data Network

Via Socrata – Publish data and share. Find data and build. Answer questions. Search Data Categories that include: finance, public safety, infrastructure, environment, demographics, transportation, economy, health, education, housing & development, social services, politics and recreation. Users may use an API or link to the host data. Continue Reading

Congressional caucus of conservative Republicans seek to revoke over 200 regulations

House conservatives want Trump to undo regulations on climate, school lunches and Uber – “The House Freedom Caucus list covers 232 regulations, including funding for smoke-free public housing and paid sick leave for federal contractors.” From the caucus mission statement of this invitation-only group formed in 2015: “The House Freedom Caucus gives a voice to… Continue Reading

New American Community Survey Data Now Available in Social Explorer Reports

“The newly released data from the 2011-15 American Community Survey are now available on Social Explorer. Subscribers can access the new data through our reports. The companion interactive maps will be our site in the next few days. Stay tuned for updates. The American Community Survey (ACS) is an extensive annual survey administered by the Census Bureau… Continue Reading

NYU Furman Center Launches CoreData.nyc, Hub for NYC Housing and Neighborhood Data

“Today, the NYU Furman Center announced the launch of a new online hub for New York City housing and neighborhood data. CoreData.nyc standardizes datasets from a variety of city, state, and federal sources to present over 100 indicators describing New York City’s housing and neighborhoods. It is the city’s most comprehensive resource for property-level subsidized… Continue Reading