News and Notes
- LA-based designer Jonathan Jarvis has put together a fantastic video explaining the current credit crisis. This is a must-watch:
- from the Chicago Tribune: Elmhurst real estate office settles race bias lawsuit<!-- content -->
"An Elmhurst real estate office and one its former agents admitted no wrongdoing but agreed to pay a $120,000 settlement to end a federal lawsuit alleging racial bias.
"According to a consent decree released Wednesday by U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald's office, the National Fair Housing Alliance conducted an undercover investigation of the Re/Max East-West office and agent John DeJohn between June 2004 and February 2005. The alliance sent prospective home buyers of different races and national origins to see how they would be treated. The alliance reported its findings to the Department of Housing and Urban Development."
- also from the Chicago Tribune: Foreclosures spur neighborhood ghost towns
"In the past when banks auctioned off foreclosed homes, buyers lined up to snatch real estate at bargain prices. But given the states of the housing and credit markets, almost 99 percent of homes lost to foreclosure in 2008 went back to lenders—a total value of $1.9 billion in Chicago, according to data provided by the Woodstock Institute, a Chicago-based think tank.
"Banks don't want to be landlords, so the properties usually sit vacant until they sell. And very few are selling. Census data show that from 2000 to 2007, the number of vacancies in Chicago jumped 82 percent to a record 165,679 housing units." - from the Washington Post: White House Urban Affairs Chief Picked
"Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión Jr., who was named Thursday to direct the new White House Office of Urban Affairs, said he wants cities to become economic centers that can pull the country out of a recession and improve American competitiveness in a global market.
"Carrión said he would help coordinate urban policy in traditional areas such as education, health care and public safety. But he also said he would look to develop urban neighborhoods in environmentally thoughtful ways, such as by offering incentives for companies to locate in densely populated areas and improving mass transit.
"I'm excited because this president is taking urban America out of the desert it's been in for eight years," he said." - from Rooflines.org: Obama's Foreclosure Plan: Just the Facts
"The Obama administration announced February 18 its Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan that aims to offer assistance to as many as 9 million homeowners making a “good-faith effort to stay current on their mortgage payments,” while attempting to address the impact of foreclosures on communities and families.
"The plan also aims to support low mortgage rates by “strengthening confidence” in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by giving $200 billion to the government-controlled mortgage finance companies. Those funds were made available through the Housing and Economic Recovery Act and do not use funds from this plan or TARP monies." - also from Rooflines.org (note: if you don't already read this blog, you should...): Where We Live Affects How Much We Drive and What We Can Afford
"Basically, as previous reports from the Center for Neighborhood Technology (which partnered in the new report, along with the Center for Housing Policy) have demonstrated, the farther away one gets from jobs and the traditional center of a region, the more one has to drive, and the more one has to spend to do so. As one moves farther out, average driving costs actually overtake housing costs in their proportional claim on household income. Although average housing costs may decline, the apparent savings to the household are wiped out by the increased transportation costs, so that true affordability becomes elusive."
