Mortgage Settlements Reviewed | Who Will Follow Amanda Burden | Suburbanization of Poverty

Current Director of the New York City Department of City Planning, Amanda Burden (Photo: Crain’s New York)

1. Behind the Mortgage Settlements from the Housing Crisis Banks have paid less than half the $5.7 billion in cash owed to troubled homeowners under nearly 30 settlements brokered by the government since 2008, delaying help to the millions of victims of discrimination and shoddy lending that epitomized the housing crisis, according to a Washington Post analysis of government data. [Washington Post – 05/19/13]
2. Who Will Fill Amanda Burden’s Shoes? Names being floated by the real estate community include Vishaan Chakrabarti, a former city planner and current director of Columbia University’s Center for Urban Real Estate and a partner at SHoP Architects; Regina Myer, a former city planner and current president of Brooklyn Bridge Park; and Anna Levin, a city planning commissioner, former community board chairman. [Crain’s New York – 05/17/13]
3. Renters Face a Housing Squeeze More than 26 percent of working renters spent at least half their income on housing in 2011, up from about 23 percent in 2008. One reason: There just aren’t enough affordable rental units to go around. In 2010, there were 5.1 million more low-income families than there were affordable units. [BusinessWeek – 05/17/13]
4. Native New Yorkers Better at Finding New York Apartments Because, as native New Yorkers, they know the city intimately, they’re open to distant or emerging neighborhoods. Places like Gowanus in Brooklyn or Ridgewood in Queens are not unfamiliar names on the fringes of a map of Manhattan, but communities where they’ve visited friends, gone to parties, hung out. These young people also know how to navigate the subway system, no small issue when it comes to establishing a toehold on a street far from the city’s center. [New York Times – 05/19/13]
5. Lhota is No. 1 for Real Estate Campaign Cash in Last Two Months Joseph Lhota may be a relative newcomer to the New York City mayoral race, but in the last two months he has captured the lion’s share of real estate contributions, beating out rivals Christine Quinn, Bill de Blasio and others for industry donations, a review of the latest city campaign finance records show. [The Real Deal – 05/17/13]
6. Mortgage Interest Rate Deduction Benefits High-income Homeowners The report charts the geographic distribution of those using the deduction across and within the 50 states. The states with the largest percentages of tax filers claiming the deduction are clustered along the East and West Coasts, in more affluent areas with relatively high property values. [New York Times – 05/16/13]
7. The Suburbanization of Poverty Between 2000 and 2011, the population living in American cities below the poverty line increased by 29 percent. During that same time, across the country in the suburbs of metropolitan areas as diverse as Atlanta and Detroit and Salt Lake City, the ranks of the poor grew by 64 percent. Today, more poor people live in the suburbs (16.4 million of them) than in U.S. cities (13.4 million), despite the perception that poverty remains a uniquely urban problem. [Atlantic Cities – 05/20/13]
8. Environmental Review Ordered for Controversial UWS Nursing Home Development Opponents of a proposed nursing home at an Upper West Side site they believe contains toxic levels of lead got a small victory after developers agreed to conduct a state-mandated environmental study. [DNA Info – 05/20/13]
9. Barclays Center’s ‘Signature Scent’ Tickles Noses, Curiosity As the last few fans rushed through the arena’s front doors, the brisk breeze that followed them gave way to a distinct aroma: a fresh-smelling fragrance with citrus notes that some call the arena’s “signature scent,” in the words of one Twitter observer. [DNA Info – 05/20/13]