March 2010

  • The Administration’s Short-Sale Program

    The New York Times is reporting a new tack taken by the Obama administration to address the foreclosure crisis, this time acknowledging that some homeowners need to simply get out of their mortgage by way of a short sale, where a property is sold for less than the mortgage balance. This new maneuver comes just a week after President Obama headed to Nevada to promote the $1.5 billion, Help for the Hardest Hit Housing Markets program that hones in on five states hit hardest by the housing bust—Nevada, Florida, Michigan, Arizona, and California—and works with state and local housing finance agencies to increase their capacity in addressing areas that have seen a 20 percent drop in home prices since their peak. But with this short-sale initiative, the administration is taken arguably its most aggressive step in trying to address the housing crisis — a crisis where solutions have been elusive to say the least. The Times reports that under the short-sale program, “the servicing bank, as with all modifications, will get $1,000. Another $1,000 can go toward a second loan, if there is one. And for the first time the government would give money to the distressed homeowners themselves. They will get $1,500 in “relocation assistance.” Ideally, the program will allow the servicers to get more money than they would with a foreclosure, and for the borrower, the ability to short-sale could limit credit damage than damage incurred when defaulting on a loan. The Times also notes that it could also benefit communities, limiting the number of vacant properties in line to be sold by banks. more

  • Redefining Detroit

    A Detroit-based community development trade association, The Community Development Advocates of Detroit, has released a report that, among other proposals, suggests that certain residential areas be transformed into “green venture zones,” “naturescapes,” and “green thoroughfares,” in addition to commercial hubs, and traditional residential sectors. The report, Neighborhood Revitalization Strategic Framework comprises a number of neighborhood revitalization recommendations and “is the work of a unique, multi-sector collaborative representing over 85 community development organizations, government, funding institutions, businesses, educational institutions, and city-wide and regional nonprofit organizations,” according to a CDAD press release With more than 30 percent of the city’s 139 square miles vacant, the idea of handling what are not only long-term, but permanent changes to Detroit’s physical and socioeconomic makeup, has long been on the radar of city government, CBOs, and local planners. Early last year, Dan Pitera, a Dan Pitera, a professor of architecture at University of Detroit Mercy, assembled a map that illustrates how to fit the land mass of Manhattan, San Francisco, and Boston and their combined populations into Detroit — roughly 3 million people. According to Tim Thorland, chairman of the CDAD board: “It is only when we understand the conditions and strategies necessary for the entire city, that we can begin to make decisions about specific neighborhoods. Furthermore, we can’t simply ignore areas of the City without understanding what their new purpose might be. We must determine what entity should own and manage that land. Otherwise crime, environmental dumping and other negative factors will surely result.” more

  • Making Home (Really) Affordable

    As President Obama last week headed west to Nevada to promote a $1.5 billion program that would hone in on five states — Nevada, Florida, Michigan, Arizona, and California — hit hardest by the housing bust, concerns for a real…

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