California legalizes public banking [Oct 2019], setting the stage for more affordable housing [After 100 years of just 1 public bank in the nation (ND), California makes it possible for many to flourish, serving the public interest, instead of depositing our tax wealth in Wall Street banks.] Cities and counties in California will be allowed to create their own public banks, making …
Number of Homeless Students in the US Surges 15%, Now Topping 1.5 Million
By the National Center for Homeless Education.March 8, 2020 | EDUCATE! Above photo: From ChangingtheNarratives.com. The National Center for Homeless Education recently released its report on homeless students in the United States. Download the report here. Each year, states submit data on the demographics and academic performance of students experiencing homelessness to the U.S. Department of Education (ED) through the EDFacts Submission System. This …
Landlords Are Using Next-Generation Eviction Tech
For landlords with large numbers of properties, “delinquency management platforms” can make instigating evictions a one-click process. By KRISTON CAPPS FEBRUARY 26, 2020 As tenant protections get stronger, corporate landlords use software to manage delinquent renters. But housing advocates see a tool for quicker evictions. In the ever-evolving cat-and-mouse game between landlords and renters, the latter have been getting the …
Building a community: Manufactured home residents go co-op
February 10, 2020 FOCUS ON SOUTHERN MAINE COURTESY / JEANEE WRIGHT Members of Charter Oaks Village operations committee in June, after residents bought the park, from left, Shannon Staples, Steve Staples, Larry Lacalliades, Tom Lauricella and Roger Lapierre. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn Share via Email By Maureen Milliken When residents at Charter Oaks Village, a manufactured home community on the Biddeford-Arundel line, got a …
Efficient, PreFab ADUs and Design Considerations
LA Times, Feb 2020 When it comes to good ADU design and, Peterson said, “Tall ceilings, long sightlines, windows facing toward the garden, and creating an indoor-outdoor connection using windows and sliding doors” create a sense of space many crave. A great room, encompassing the lion’s share of the home’s square footage and incorporating an open-plan kitchen, living and dining …
Car bans are the future in vehicle clogged cities
“It might feel odd to stroll across a crosswalk and not have the grill of a car, waiting to turn right, breathing on your leg. Vehicles have taken over our streets, so people assume vehicles have the right of way,” said Kaufman. Car bans aren’t just about getting places faster. Urban dwellers don’t have to tolerate car-choked streets where pedestrian …
Studying the intersection of policies promoting affordable housing, transit, and driving reduction
By Caltrans, research by Marlon Boarnet, University of Southern California Raphael Bostic, University of Southern California Danielle Williams, University of Southern California, April 2017 Studying the intersection of policies promoting affordable housing, transit-oriented developments (TODs), and the reduction of vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in metropolitan areas, this paper focuses in particular on the following questions: Does locating affordable units in …
Families in the bottom 20% of incomes spend 87% of their $10,100 average annual on housing, leaving about $1,300 a year for everything else, or about $100 a month
Excerpt, Colorado Sun, 9 Feb 2020 https://coloradosun.com/2020/02/09/denver-camping-ban-homeless-opinion/ According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, an individual must make over $29 an hour to afford an average two-bedroom unit in Denver. Despite a typical perception that those on the streets “just need to get a job,” a recent survey of research by Tobin and Murphy suggests that about 45% of those experiencing …
The Great Affordability Crisis: Families bled dry by costs of housing, health care, and child care
The Great Affordability Crisis Breaking America by Annie Lowrey in The Atlantic, Feb 2020 In the 2010s, the national unemployment rate dropped from a high of 9.9 percent to its current rate of just 3.5 percent. The economy expanded each and every year. Wages picked up for high-income workers as soon as the Great Recession ended, and picked up for lower-income workers in …
It’s time to ban demolition and design for deconstruction
Lloyd Alter January 17, 2020 Oliver Wainright of the Guardian calls for a rethink of the way we put buildings together and take them apart. “Ban Demolition” is a tag on TreeHugger because we have long argued for renovation and reuse, especially in this era when we worry about the upfront carbon emissions of new construction. Oliver Wainwright of the …