A Westchester County suit in federal court, charging local governments failed to “affirmatively further fair housing” has been settled on…
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 – 8/4/2009
Like trying to push a rope, the Obama Administration is having little luck getting banks to address troubled mortgages. The…
Bo McCarver’s weekly housing news compilation – 7/28/2009
The supply/demand principle of free markets appears to be ignored in Texas: although foreclosure rates continue to climb, Texas homebuilders…
Black children pay a high price for living in poverty neighborhoods
In the United States, living in a poor neighborhood often means living in an environment that is unhealthy and violent, and…
Bo McCarver’s weekly housing news compilation – 7/21/2009
It’s just getting harder and harder for business editors to spin rosy real estate articles but creativity abounds — we’re…
Government housing programs can and do help the poorest families in Texas
I blogged last week about the need for housing programs to recognize the housing needs of families well below 30…
Bo McCarver’s weekly housing news compilation – 7/14/2009
Slowly the nation realizes that banks are not in the business of financing mortgages but rather the business of making…
Photos and costs of FEMA’s temporary housing units released
At yesterday’s hearing on the future of FEMA disaster housing before the House Homeland Security Committee the committee staff produced…
Bo McCarver’s weekly housing news compilation – 7/7/2009
The word-on-the-street is that “things are going to get worse before they get better:” a massive wave of foreclosures looms…
Fighting bigotry and poverty, perfecting government is a mandate of the Declaration of Independence
July 4, 2009 – I’m grateful and challenged to live in the United States. We are placed where we are…
Bo McCarver’s weekly housing news compilation – 6/30/2009
Like a caboose on a wayward train, renters feel the brunt of the ongoing housing debacle. Their plights are largely…
Bo McCarver’s weekly housing news compilation – 6/23/2009
A surge of mortgage defaults is forecasted as the housing industry slowly sinks further into the general recession. The Texas…
I want to believe the President’s financial consumer protection plan will work, but it won’t
President Obama adopted a fighting stance against the financial services industry today in his weekly radio address. He promised that…
An in-depth look: financial reform called for a major overhaul but did not get one
In pondering the Obama administration’s Financial Regulatory Reform: A New Foundation plan announced this week I find myself agreeing with New…
Judge Sotomayor said to have been a strong low income housing advocate
The New York Times reported today that President Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court was a passionate low income housing…
Addressing low-income families’ housing aspirations is essential to financial reform
You don’t have to work long in the field of affordable housing to find out how strong the desire is…
The Nouveau Poor foreclosure crisis slights the poor
You can’t help these days being struck by the amount of government and media attention heaped on the plight of…
Getting closer to finding out why so many Texas hurricane survivors were denied housing assistance
The pieces are slowly coming together to answer the question, why were so many applications for FEMA housing assistance in…
Bo McCarver’s weekly housing news compilation – 6/16/2009
While market analysts search vainly for glimmers of hope in the housing industry, foreclosure rates continue to soar. Efforts to…
An encouraging sign of understanding by new FEMA administrator
I liked what I heard from new FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate in his June 9 testimony before the House Homeland…
Katrina Cottage pilot program woes due to failure at all levels
How many times do we have to hear the story before it sinks in? Let’s sum up the government response…
Texas to receive an additional $1.7 billion for hurricane rebuilding
U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan today announced HUD is allocating $3.7 billion in disaster aid to 11…
Bo McCarver’s weekly housing news compilation – 6/9/2009
Housing stories were scarce this week as national economic and international events dominated the news. The business indicators remained gloom,…
Karen Paup’s testimony on post hurricane housing rebuilding in Texas
Note: Karen Paup was invited to testify before a subcommittee of the Senate Homeland Security Committee on post-hurricane housing disaster…
Texas legislature rejects adoption of federal fair housing law
The 1968 Fair Housing Act requires that HUD and other federal agencies, as well as their grantees further fair housing.…
Bo McCarver’s weekly housing news compilation – 6/2/2009
Ever-optimistic realtors claim steady sales transactions at foreclosure auctions bode good news for the housing industry but realists point out…
Bo McCarver’s weekly housing news compilation – 5/26/2009
John Henneberger note: I have fallen a bit behind in posting Bo’s excellent housing news summaries during the last weeks…
Bo McCarver’s weekly housing news compilation – 4/26/2009
The housing industry offers no silver linings in the gloomy clouds over the US economy. Home values continue to drop…
Bo McCarver’s weekly housing news compilation – 4/14/2009
Frozen by the recession, the nation’s exurbs are folding. Thousands of unfinished tract developments mark both the boundaries of sprawl…
Bo McCarver’s weekly housing news compilation – 4/7/2009
Stories of mortgage scams and foreclosures largely receded to the second pages of newspapers this week as editors and writers…