EDUCATION OF HOMELESS STUDENTS: Improved Program Oversight Needed, GAO-14-465: Published: Jul 31, 2014. Publicly Released: Aug 22, 2014. WORLD TRADE CENTER HEALTH PROGRAM: Approach Used to Add Cancers to List of Covered Conditions Was Reasonable, but Could Be Improved, GAO-14-606: Published: Jul 23, 2014. Publicly Released: Aug 22, 2014. SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM: Enhanced Detection Tools and Reporting Could Improve Efforts to… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Housing
New FICO Score Model to Help Expand Consumer Access to Credit
Tara Siegel Bernard – NYT: “The creator of one of the most widely used and influential credit scores, FICO, said on Thursday that the latest version of its score would no longer weigh medical debts — which account for about half of all unpaid collections on consumers’ credit reports — as heavily as it did… Continue Reading
Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households
“In its new Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households, the Federal Reserve Board provides a snapshot of the self-perceived financial and economic well-being of U.S. households and the issues they face, based on responses to the Board’s 2013 Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking. The report provides insight into numerous topics of current relevance to… Continue Reading
Why Is the Economy Still Weak? Blame These Five Sectors – NYT
Neil Irwin: “The economy keeps underperforming. Yes, new G.D.P. data last week were better than expected. But the United States is still producing around $800 billion a year less in goods and services than it would if the economy were at full health, and as a result millions of people aren’t working who would be if… Continue Reading
New GAO Reports – Data Transparency, Manufactured Housing
DATA TRANSPARENCY: Oversight Needed to Address Underreporting and Inconsistencies on Federal Award Website, GAO-14-476: Published: Jun 30, 2014. Publicly Released: Aug 1, 2014: “Although agencies generally reported required contract information, they did not properly report information on assistance awards (e.g., grants or loans), totaling approximately $619 billion in fiscal year 2012. Specifically, 33 of 37 agencies with… Continue Reading
New GAO Reports – Budget Issues, Combatting Nuclear Smuggling, Federal Real Property, 401(K) Plans, Medicaid Financing, Flood Insurance, USDA Farm Programs
BUDGET ISSUES: Opportunities to Reduce Federal Fiscal Exposures Through Greater Resilience to Climate Change and Extreme Weather, GAO-14-504T: Published: Jul 29, 2014. Publicly Released: Jul 29, 2014. COMBATING NUCLEAR SMUGGLING: Past Work and Preliminary Observations on Research and Development at the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, GAO-14-783T: Published: Jul 29, 2014. Publicly Released: Jul 29, 2014. FEDERAL REAL PROPERTY: Better Guidance and… Continue Reading
Debt in America
Debt in America by Caroline Ratcliffe, Signe-Mary McKernan, Brett Theodos, Emma Kalish, Additional Authors. July 2014. “Debt can be constructive, allowing people to build equity in homes or finance education, but it can also burden families into the future. Total debt is driven by mortgage debt; both are highly concentrated in high-cost housing markets, mostly along the coasts. Among Americans… Continue Reading
In Post-Recession Era, Young Adults Drive Continuing Rise in Multi-Generational Living
“A record 57 million Americans, or 18.1% of the population of the United States, lived in multi-generational family households in 2012, double the number who lived in such households in 1980. After three decades of steady but measured growth, the arrangement of having multiple generations together under one roof spiked during the Great Recession of 2007-2009 and… Continue Reading
2014 CoreLogic Storm Surge Analysis
News release: “CoreLogic®, a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled services provider, today released its 2014 storm surge analysis featuring estimates on both the number and reconstruction value of single-family homes exposed to hurricane-driven storm surge risk within the United States. According to the findings, more than 6.5 million homes along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf… Continue Reading
Utah Is on Track to End Homelessness by 2015 With This One Simple Idea
Via NationSwell – “Utah has reduced its rate of chronic homelessness by 74 percent over the past eight years, moving 2000 people off the street and putting the state on track to eradicate homelessness altogether by 2015. How’d they do it? The state is giving away apartments, no strings attached. In 2005, Utah calculated the annual… Continue Reading
FHFA Actions to Manage Enterprise Risks from Nonbank Servicers Specializing in Troubled Mortgages
FHFA Actions to Manage Enterprise Risks from Nonbank Servicers Specializing in Troubled Mortgages (AUD-2014-014) – 07/01/2014 “Banks that traditionally service mortgage loans backed by the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) (the Enterprises) have been selling the rights to service troubled loans (e.g., delinquent or in default) in… Continue Reading
3D printer constructs 10 buildings in one day from recycled materials – ComputerWorld
Lucas Mearian: “A Chinese company has become the first to construct multiple buildings using 3D printers that extrude recycled building materials at breakneck speed. Using four huge 3D printers, Yingchuang New Materials Inc. was able to print the shells of 10 one-room structures in 24 hours and at a cost of only about $5,000 per building. The… Continue Reading
