The FDIC recently released a study that finds that 60 million Americans, a quarter of all U.S. households, are either…
Category: National issues
National issues encompasses housing topics we are seeing on the federal level. This includes focusing on agencies and topics like HUD, U.S. Congress, civil rights, fair housing advocacy, and work from other states and our national partners.
Bo McCarver’s weekly housing news compilation – 12/1/2009
The fundamental supply/demand axiom of capitalism seems undermined as America’s urban zones are increasingly characterized by the peculiar specter of…
Disaster rebuilding, celebrity style, solution or problem?
Brad Pitt’s Make it Right Foundation is planning to build 150 homes in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans. …
Bo McCarver’s weekly housing news compilation – 11/24/2009
Lean times permeate all classes and now the rich begin to default on mortgages — meanwhile, the government makes it…
Bo McCarver’s weekly housing news compilation – 11/17/2009
The consequences of rampant, irrational home loans issued during in the false economic boom of George W. Bush’s presidency continue…
HUD denies Governor Perry’s Amended Recovery Plan
On November 10, HUD Assistant Secretary Mercedes Marquez issued a letter to Governor Rick Perry denying the State of Texas’s…
HUD Rejects State of Texas CDBG Disaster Recovery Plan
HUD has rejected the State of Texas Plan to spend $1.7 billion in CDBG disaster recovery funds for Hurricane Dolly…
TDHCA: Trying to make the best of a bad LIHTC thing
One of the Recovery Act programs we’re watching is the Housing Tax Credit Exchange program, a program supporting the production…
Bo McCarver’s weekly housing news compilation – 11/10/2009
Facing a huge deficit issue, Congress finally acts to give tax breaks to homebuyers but does not address the broader…
Bo McCarver’s weekly housing news compilation – 11/3/2009
Disclosures about Wall Street’s bottom-feeders continue to surface: two stories about Goldman-Sachs were published this week describing the firm’s shady…
The Evolution of Housing Discrimination
It is important to remember that discrimination still exists as a sizeable barrier between low-income families and safe, affordable housing. …
Bo McCarver’s weekly housing news compilation – 10/27/2009
Confusion reins at Freddie Mac where the quasi-governmental agency cannot bridge the roles of oversight and profiteering. The organization was…
An Austin designer’s interesting approach to post-disaster shelter
Austin designer Michael McDaniel has developed an alternative temporary housing solution to the FEMA trailer. He calls it the Reaction…
Are Some Inclusionary Zoning Ordinances Promoting Racial Segregation?
Inclusionary zoning is a policy whereby a city or municipality mandates that a certain percentage of units in newly constructed…
The real poverty rate in US is much higher
In Ben Bernanke’s America, the recession is ending, stocks are rising, and cash is flowing. The housing crisis is over:…
Bo McCarver’s weekly housing news compilation – 10/20/2009
Seeking to provide mortgages to a huge wait-list of first-time homeowners refused by private banks, the Obama Administration has initiated…
Bo McCarver’s Weekly Housing News Compilation – 10/13/2009
Having exhausted the over-sold mortgage ruse, predators now set their sights on reverse mortgages and the elderly. As the scams…
Housing Tax Credit Assistance Program: A second bite at the apple?
One of the TDHCA programs we are tracking with our new American Recovery and Reinvestment Act accountability initiative is the…
Bo McCarver’s weekly housing news compilation – 10/6/2009
The bank doesn’t want your mortgage: with more profit to be made at less risk in other ventures, banks are…
Bo McCarver’s weekly housing news compilation – 9/28/2009
Thousands of Gulf Coast poor driven inland by Hurricanes Katrina and Ike have not returned; many choose not to and…
HUD should reject the State of Texas plan to misspend $3 billion in CDBG disaster recovery funds
The State of Texas is required to submit a plan amendment to HUD by September 30 outlining its final plan…
To protect lenders task force censuring advice given to Texas homeowners facing foreclosure
Texas consumer housing advocate and attorney Robert Doggett is on a tirade. Not against the usual predatory lenders or slumlords…
Bo McCarver’s weekly housing news compilation – 9/22/2009
The annual American Community Survey has been released and shows the pervasive effects of the recession. The meltdown of the…
Bo McCarver’s Weekly Housing Compilation – 9/15/2009
On the first anniversary of Hurricane Ike, coastal newspapers chronicled the plight of thousands of displaced residents still waiting to…
People of color not enjoying economic recovery
The data from the Center for Social Inclusion is disturbing. The organization has analyzed 2009 US Census data and uncovered…
Bo McCarver’s weekly housing news compilation – 9/8/2009
As the housing market continues to sputter, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac falter under government conservatorship. The corporations have been…
Bo McCarver’s weekly housing news compilation – 9/1/2009
The sputtering economy braces for another wave of mortgage defaults as loans carrying variable interest rates are pushed higher. Banks…
Bo McCarver’s weekly housing news compilation – 8/25/2009
This story is repeated so often its headline is no longer news: more US homeowners find themselves “underwater” as the…
Bo McCarver’s housing news compilation – 8/18/2009
Across the nation, struggling homeowners who are behind in paying taxes on their homes are now faced with huge fees…
Bo McCarver’s housing news compilation — 8/11/2009
Years after Hurricanes Rita and Ike, FEMA has been ordered by a federal judge to publish rules for homeowners to…