Subject: Politics
I hosted a meet-and-greet recently for first-time candidate Lynette McElhaney (pictured), who was newly elected to the City of Oakland City Council from District 3 in November 2012. I live in District 3. It is the heart of Oakland, it…
As the election results sink in, partisans are busy debating what 2012 voting patterns mean for Republican and Democratic prospects in the next election cycle. But what lessons do this year’s results hold for those of us who are committed…
The signs are off the lawns, checkbooks have closed (for now anyway), the president and Congress are back to full-time work, and the losing candidates are licking their wounds (and in some cases, opening new ones). So what about us?…
Since few writers have mused so far on this blog about the results of last week's elections, I may as well take a shot at it. Living in a rural area, I surely have had a different real world experience than…
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The 2012 presidential election debate centered on how best to jumpstart our economy and spur job creation. The candidates campaigned on their opposing plans, drawing stark contrasts on fundamental economic issues such as taxes, health care, and the national debt. …
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HousingWire says no big changes for housing industry, thinks administration will not actually remove FHFA acting director Ed DeMarco, as it suggested it would if the president won reelection. City Limits reviews the Obama administration's urban policy to date. Smart Growth America…
Whlie Michigan's 5th District may see their new Congressman, Dan Kildee, first as the nephew of their retiring 36-year current representative, Dale Kildee, the community development world is more likely to know him as the founder of the Center for…
As we head into the election home stretch, pieces of Rep. Keith Ellison's interview with Shelterforce in our latest issue keep coming to mind. Ellison is both a committed advocate for affordable housing and lower income communities and an optmistic, but…
Ascertaining how much foundation money supports civic engagement, voter registration and mobilization, and related community organizing activities is damn near impossible. The Foundation Center’s database offers glimpses of foundation trends as classified by the Foundation Center staff and by the…
With the news talking about close races in swing states, and voter intimidation in full swing, the importance of voter registration, voting rights, and getting out the vote could not be any clearer. Two articles in our recent issue of Shelterforce…
Housing and community development have been glaringly absent from both of the presidential campaigns and all of the debates this election season, as many Rooflines bloggers have pointed out. But as HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan lays out in his Shelterforce article…
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This presidential race continues to be a disaster when it comes to issues we care about. No mention of affordable housing, no real debate on how to solve the ongoing foreclosure crisis, and an utter lack of concern about the…
Responding to Paul Ryan’s commentary about valuing seniors, Vice President Biden shared some advice he received from his father: "Look, don’t tell me what you value. Show me your budget, and I will tell you what you value." It's true,…
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It's official, at least it is to you. In order to get housing on the agenda this election cycle, we have to demand our candidates to take a stand. It's not hard—in fact, it's quite easy—to share Rooflines blogger Greg…
From one perspective, the recent expansion of the Michigan’s 1990 Emergency Financial Management Act is just the latest salvo in a right-wing-led war against the rights of workers to organize.
The expansion will allow financial managers appointed to oversee bankrupt municipalities and school districts the rights to invalidate union contracts, dismiss elected officials, and dissolve municipal boundaries.
It sounds like extreme stuff. And it is. In the current political climate and when it would be carried out by governor appointees with little to no democratic oversight, the implications are really worrying. Looking at the behavior of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, and the assertions from many Tea Party Republicans about their disregard for the democratic process or collective bargaining rights, not to mention corporate tax breaks being passed at the same time, it is an understatement to say that it is hard to feel at all confident that the actions of Michigan’s emergency managers would actually be in the best interests of struggling citiesespecially when those struggling cities are often Democratic strongholds.
That said, many of these cities are in serious, long-term distress, and they have been since well before the current financial crisis, even though that has pushed many to or over the edge. And actual fiscal collapse is also harmful to residents and workers. more
First it was the Office of Urban Policy. Then, at the time of its launch in 2009, it quietly turned into the Office of Urban Affairs: a small, but interesting name change. Its director, Adolfo Carrion, the former Bronx borough…
Brad Lander, a not-for-profit director, affordable housing builder, city planner, and community organizer told the Brownstoner about why he chose to run for New York City Council. “I’ve worked with hundreds of residents, activists, and advocates with tremendous commitment, street…
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It’s labor-day weekend so let’s think about unions, Republicans, and politics. Unions are a potent reality check as well as a counterforce to the power of big business. Most union members don’t fall for free market propaganda and the myths…
We mourn the passing of Sen. Edward Kennedy today not only for his definitive role in a significant slice of Americana, but also for his role a true progressive leader. He was flawed, for sure, but his conviction for causes…
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In the Spring 2009 issue of Shelterforce, now available to view online at www.shelterforce.org, Nandinee K. Kutty, an author and economist who works in housing and urban policy worries that despite the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan and Making Home Affordable, housing discrimination will continue to plague the market, as will the myth that the housing crisis resulted from extending homeownership and home mortgage credit to historically underserved groups.
Kutty argues that “Fair lending is the law,” and “it’s not option or something we practice only when it’s convenient for banks,” and that “we are where we are because of decades of discrimination.”
While those in the Rooflines sphere are likely to agree with her, the story’s overall takeaway is an important one to repeat over and over again because there are myriad external forces working to distract the country with false explanations for the economic meltdown. Kutty refers to the myth that lending to so-called irresponsible borrowers caused the crisis and worries that this myth will only make the suddenly-frugal banks tighten their purse strings even more, making loans they’re only “comfortable with,“thus resulting in even more discrimination. more
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National Housing Institute
