March 2012
Neighbors: Faraway, So Close!
"Why does everyone in the country live out in the middle of nowhere? It’s so inefficient!" This was the reaction of a friend of ours, who hails from Europe, on a recent visit to our rural neck of the woods.…
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Awardees Honored at NLIHC 2012
The National Low Income Housing Coalition gave out a number of its annual awards this morning at its annual conference: Katy Reckdahl of the New Orleans Times-Picayune received the Media Award for herdetailed coverage of housing issues such as public…
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Four Kinds of Concentrated Areas of Poverty
In a fair housing workshop yesterday at the National Low Income Housing Coalition's annual conference Sara Pratt of HUD's Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity had an interesting break down of how she thinks of there being four different kinds of…
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Fair Housing News from NLIHC 2012
The much-anticipated new Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule is not yet out, and probably won't be available for comment for a few months, and HUD officials are keeping mum about its content. But Debby Goldberg of the National Fair Housing…
How to Hire a Consultant
Did you ever feel like you need a consultant to help you figure out what you need your consultant to do? Believe me, you are not alone. As a recovering executive director (and boy is that going to make a…
Church Foreclosures on the Rise
Boston's historic Charles Street AME never missed a mortgage payment, but the church could not refinance and ultimately fell in arrears on its $4 million construction loan to be used to build a community center. Separately, the church, founded in…
With Merger, Enterprise Expands Financing for “Workforce” Housing, Commercial
Enterprise Community Investment, the for-profit financing subsidiary of Enterprise Community Partners, has merged with Bellwether Real Estate Capital to form Bellwether Enterprise Real Estate Capital LLC. Enterprise says the merger is consistent with the direction offered by its long-term visioning exercise,…
Honoring Justice
Earlier this month, I had the honor of speaking at the memorial service for civil rights hero and respected jurist Judge Robert L. Carter. These were my reflections: I had the privilege of serving as Judge Carter’s Law Clerk in…
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The Lifecycle of Predatory Equity
The New York City Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB) has a new report out that examines the "lifecycle" of predatory equity—a practice where real-estate speculators over-leverage buildings with the intention of forcing tenants out. The report points to a potentially…
The End of the Rural “Suburb?”
I read a recent column that suggested getting rid of the word “suburb.” While there’s still a distinction between the central city and the outskirts, the author noted that many of the outskirts have acquired an urban character, and can…
NYC’s Philanthropy Bagel Hole
New York City has everything, just like this bagel. Yum! The secret, as they say, is in the water. And water, as they say, is life. But there’s a hole in the bagel, dear Liza, dear Liza. When I first…
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Don’t Rewrite Andrew Breitbart’s Legacy
I extend condolences to Andrew Breitbart’s family. He died last week at the young age of 43. Because my brother died at age 36, I know how a sudden death of a young man shocks, saddens, and pains a family.…
Lessons in Revitalization
Having lived in DC for nearly a quarter century now, I am still flabbergasted to see white people pushing baby carriages on streets in my old neighborhood on H Street in Northeast. Now a national example of successful "commercial district…
Catalysts Turned Stalemates
All too often in cities around the country, a once-clear vision of a "catalytic development project" is easily blurred by protracted discussions about whose idea provides the silver bullet. At the same time, we want to keep the development pendulum…
National Housing Institute
