HUD Sec. Reinventing Recovery | Pushing out Tenants to House Homeless | Unwinding Fannie & Freddie

The government rescued mortgage finance companies are on track to repay the two received in taxpayer-funded bail-outs.(Atlantic)

1. Shaun Donovan wants to reinvent the way we do disaster recovery. “When he announced Rebuild by Design back in June, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, who chairs the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, said that itwouldn’t be your typical design competition. ‘The success of this competition will not be measured simply by producing theoretical solutions,” he said. “Rather we want proposals that will have an impact on the ground, in people’s lives.’” [Atlantic Cities – 08/09/13]
2. To create housing for homeless, landlords evict paying tenants. “Desperate for shelter space, New York City has been paying landlords in low income communities much more for their apartments than they could get in the private market. The result? Landlords are pushing out paying tenants to make room for the homeless.” [WNYC – 08/12/13]
3. Unwinding the mortgage giants won’t cure Americans of home-ownership desire. “More than four years ago, President Obama assumed office promising dramatic reform to the housing market. After all, it was the housing market that triggered the financial crisis, and the vast proliferation of low-quality loans that had fueled the housing bubble. But politics delayed those reforms, and now the president is reopening the issue with a call to wind down the two main federal mortgage agencies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.” [The Atlantic – 08/10/13]
4. Richmond Mayor says lawsuit won’t deter eminent domain loan seizures. “Gayle McLaughlin, the mayor of Richmond, Calif., says she’s not deterred from moving ahead with the city’s plan to forcibly purchase mortgages from bondholders using the city’s power of eminent domain despite a court challenge and the possibility of additional action by a federal regulator.” [Wall Street Journal – 08/09/13]
5. Hip, urban and middle-aged. “Hip urban neighborhoods are aging, as a growing chunk of adults in their 50s and 60s and older give up their longtime homes and head for trendy condos. The invasion of older, moneyed buyers has “created a gold rush” in some of these areas, says Dean Jones of Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty in Seattle. Mr. Jones’s firm sold 34 condominium penthouses and luxury town homes for more than $1 million in downtown Seattle neighborhoods between March and October of 2012-a large percentage to baby boomers. It was a 40% increase over the same period a year earlier.” [Wall Street Journal – 08/08/13]
6. Will micro-housing catch on in D.C.? “Graduating college is a rite of passage for many, a stepping-stone for some, but for most it means no longer living in a tiny, box-like dorm room. Now, some developers are looking to challenge that concept.They hope to attract recent graduates who are looking to branch out after spending four years sharing space with a roommate. Over the past 40 years, the number of households made up of one person has increased by almost 60 percent, according to the census. Single-person households now top out at 27 percent of all households nationwide.” [Washington Post – 08/11/13]
7. It’s about inequality: New York’s class-conscious mayoral race. “The numbers are certainly daunting. Last year, there were 3.6 million workers making the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, or less, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Here in New York City, almost a third of renters (31 percent) are “severely rent burdened,” with more than half their income going to pay the rent, according to NYU’s Furman Center. Another quarter (24 percent) are “moderately rent burdened,” spending 30 to 50 percent of their income on rent.” [The Nation – 08/12/13]
8. Obama Housing Scorecard: Foreclosure starts reach 8-year low. “President Obama spoke Tuesday about how far housing has come from its pit in the middle of the crisis. The latest housing scorecard from the Obama Administration only strengthened the president’s statements, yet serves as a reminder that there is still a long ways to go.” [Housing Wire – 08/09/13]
9. Preservationists voice concerns about plan to sell Hudson River Park’s air rights. “When state lawmakers passed a bill in June that would allow the financially troubled Hudson River Park to sell its air rights to developers across the street in order to pay for its pressing maintenance problems, the idea seemed like a novel solution. The plan would tap new revenue for the park, which was meant to be self-sustaining, without resorting to unwanted development within its boundaries.” [New York Times – 08/11/13]
10. Why are young adults returning to the city? “Much has been said about Millennials - the generation born from 1980 through the late 1990s, sometimes called Gen Y and Echo Boomers - choosing downtown living.Two-thirds of this cohort believes it is important to live in walkable neighborhoods, the consultant Robert Charles Lesser & Company has reported. As downtowns revive, Millennials often account for the lion’s share of the market.” [Better! Cities & Towns – 08/09/13]