Storm-Proofing Apartment Buidlings | Housing First in LA | Broker-Free Sale

Aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, (credit: AP)

1. Why it’s so hard to storm-proof an apartment building.  If Superstorm Sandy taught us anything, it’s that we need housing that can withstand natural disasters. But resiliency efforts often focus on detached, single-family houses and ignore larger multifamily dwellings. [The Atlantic Cities – 09/27/13]
2. N.J. affordable housing ruling may block Christie’s plan. A New Jersey Supreme Court ruling on affordable housing for the poor may be the final blow to Governor Chris Christie’s plan to take control of a regulatory agency and, according to critics, save land for the rich. [Bloomberg – 09/27/13]
3. Hip-hop legend lends needed hand for Morris Heights building. Residents of 1520 Sedgwick Ave., where DJ Kool Herc worked the turntables at the world’s first hip-hop party in 1973, celebrated the completion of a full-scale, $16.8-million renovation project [last] Friday. [Daily News – 09/27/13]
4. FHA needs $1.7 billion taxpayer subsidy. The Federal Housing Administration plans to tap $1.7 billion in taxpayer money at the end of the month to cover its losses—a first for an agency that has been self-sustaining since its 1934 creation. [The Washington Post – 09/27/13]
5. Americans are still moving way less than they used to. The percentage of Americans moving each year has dropped from 20 percent during the 1950s and 1960s, down to about 14 percent before and during the 2000s housing bubble, and then to a low point of 11.6 percent in 2011. The drop in mobility means that Americans are staying in the same house longer between moves: from 5 years, on average, in the 1950s and 1960s, to about 7 years before and during the bubble, and 8.6 years in 2013. [The Atlantic Cities – 09/27/13]
6. The broker-free sale. With inventory hitting new lows, the housing market in New York City has taken a dramatic turn in favor of sellers. Buyers face fewer options and stiffer competition. And that can get homeowners thinking about the value of their increasingly expensive broker. [The New York Times – 09/27/13]
7. L.A. puts chronically homeless in the front of housing line.  An initiative in Los Angeles County is trying to help the homeless by first connecting them with a place to live. The ‘housing first’ model has been used in cities across the country in recent years to combat long-term homelessness. [NPR – 09/27/13]
8. Will Canada reap big benefits from U.S. housing recovery? Canada has a lot of trees, and the U.S. is building a lot of houses, so you might think Canada will reap a big benefit from the housing-market rebound in the U.S. But the boost to Canada’s economy might fall short of some peoples’ expectations, according to a report from Desjardins Securities. [The Wall Street Journal – 09/27/13]
9. At the rent board, new tales of the city.  The average rent for the second quarter was one thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine dollars, up from one thousand nine hundred and twenty-one dollars a year earlier. Of course, only a certain well-heeled population can afford this. San Francisco public-health officials said last week that a tenant earning minimum wage would need to work more than eight full-time jobs to afford a two-bedroom apartment downtown. [The New Yorker – 09/27/13]
10. Park Slopers unimpressed by hospital expansion designs. When New York Methodist Hospital announced that it would demolish five brownstones to make room for its new U-shaped, seven-story expansion near the Park Slope historic district, residents of the neighborhood had some concerns. [Curbed NY – 09/27/13]