I hope that this is the first of many attempts by those of us who have been working for change for decades to begin a discussion of what real change could mean. For those of us working at the community level we are hoping that a new democratic administration under President Obama will represent a shift in financial priorities of course but we all know that money alone will never solve the problem. Housing and health care are on everyone's mind these days because middle America is hurting but lower income people, people living at the edge, communities and elected officials deal with housing and health care all the time. We all welcome the big picture change we have talked about now for months, but let's talk about what change will really mean for those of us working in the real world.
We do not have a housing crisis in America, we have a space crisis. Up until last spring we still heard the housing industry crying out that we had a housing shortage of over 3 million units in California alone. Their experts, including people like Edward L. Glaeser of Harvard University, predicted dire consequences of homelessness due to environmental laws and zoning limitations aimed at creating livable cities (see Glaeser and Ward, "The Causes and Consequences of Land Use Regulation: Evidence from Greater Boston," HIER Discussion Paper n. 2124, http://ssrn.com/... But housing demand and supply vary according to income and perceived need, in our culture this is especially effected by prestige – how many rooms a house has, square footage, yard, garage size, etc. This is made clear every time there is a recession, or a significant reduction in employment as after the 1987 stock market collapse or the dot.com collapse. At these times people move in with friends or rent rooms in houses with strangers or family. We then hear of a crisis in the housing market due to oversupply.
I have been following the financial crisis that has been brewing and I will give all my respect to bonddad for his excellent insight.
I am a big picture generalist and claim no level of expertise. I do have ideas that sound good to me that I want to share and have people help me develop.
Now I want to say this man ought to be ashamed of himself. I also want to put on my black helicopter conspiracy nut hat on and think that perhaps ol' Alan did well for his friends. But there is doubt the man harbors such type of feelings on the former, nor do is there proof on the latter. Congress really should investigate Greenspan's tenure at the Federal Reserve and also that of his new employer, Paulson & Co. Hell, at the very least, one of the Democratic candidates should make a stink about Greenspan's move to the hedge fund in these dire times.
Greenwich Time/Stamford Advocate's editorial last week, "Lawmaker right to target homelessness", praises Republican state senator John McKinney for setting "his sights on effectively ending homelessness in Connecticut."
"A rich state", it continues, "Connecticut is beset by persistent problems with people who can't find a home, can't keep a home or are in danger of losing a home. Mr. McKinney, hte Senate minority leader, is proposing what he calls a potential solution to the problem, vowing to commit significant state resources to building hundreds of affordable and permanent supportive housing units across the state"
Great. The problem is that the paper’s paean to Republican McKinney completely fails to make any mention of Democratic congressional candidate Jim Himes, a Greenwich resident running against Republican chickenhawk Chris Shays, who has spent the past four years of his life working full-time to solve precisely the housing problems that the newspaper says need to be addressed.
There was a tornado warning on Thursday, December 20th, with a cool front marching down south. The tornado that touched down though, was the incredible spirit, will and determination of those fighting for public, and affordable housing in this city, and taking on the NOPD and New Orleans City Council in the process.
We were prepared, Thursday, to challenge what we already knew would go down: the vote in the affirmative by the New Orleans City Council to demolish over 4000 units of critical, public and affordable housing in New Orleans. Our intent was to keep the meeting from happening, to prevent the vote, by peaceful, but loud, raucous protest. There was no intent to commit violence. Many of us were quite willing to be arrested. One of the principles decided on by public housing residents in this struggle is that it will be a non-violent struggle.
17,000 plus homeless people in New Orleans right now, a rate that has tripled since Katrina, and HUD and Alphonso Jackson are determined to tear down 4500 units of public and affordable housing in New Orleans, demolition scheduled to begin next week.
20,000 people lived in public housing prior to Katrina. These are the people, the working poor, that city, state and federal leaders have turned their backs on.
My recent article on indy media, "New Orleans: The Perfect Storm", describes some of the forces leading to this crisis in New Orleans. Today, I'm going to let this short video tell the story:
I told my friend this morning, I think the city is coming apart. An outbreak of robberies, some perhaps by teenagers, authorities believe; homeless population exploding; politicians looking the other way when corruption serves their purpose. I'm reminded, I tell her, of the Bugs Bunny cartoon, where he is busy, furiously, digging underground, trying to tunnel his way to paradise, or a beach, or somewhere pleasant; I can't remember exactly.
He pops his head up, in the middle of the North Pole, and says something to the effect, "I must have taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque".
It can feel like that sometimes. That one wrong turn and you wind up in a very cold environment.
Yes, I know. Some of you must be sitting on your typing fingers to resist pointing out the obvious -- that my title ignores the probability that I have already reached rather than am approaching my dotage. But I sit here in puzzlement, my left arm throbbing from flu and pneumonia inoculations I received this morning, feeling like I may have a low grade fever. And the chapter of my life I seem to be in bears no recognizable marks. This is bewildering for someone as opinionated as I, and who has been living a very structured and purposefully planned routine for a very long time.
What the hell is this guy talking about? Well, for the brave, or just insanely curious, here's an invitation to cross the jump.
Lets see where the three front runner Democratic candidates stand on this issue of affordable housing.
When I say "affordable housing," I mean housing as in a place to live, a home that is within the low-to-moderate income wage earners ability to afford. This could be a single family home, a condo, a rental apartment or something in between.
Last diary I wrote, here, was in regards to owning a piece of the American Dream.
I will look at how the candidates are talking about this issue on their official websites. I have refrained from using information second hand, such as news reports about their plans or about thier speeches.
I have limited my search to the three front runners, Clinton, Obama and Edwards, and in no order other than how they rate in the polls, I guess. You are welcome to add comments about the other candidates.
Most of the blame for the job losses are associated with the "downturn in the housing markets." Why is it that the housing market made a downturn? I believe it is because of two factors are out of balance:
1.) not paying workers enough to afford to pay for a mortgage to own a home of their own, or the "American Dream."
On Monday, I was in Philadelphia to see John Edwards speak at both the NEA annual meeting and the ACORN presidential forum. Yesterday, I posted a diary on his speech about education to the NEA. Today's diary covers his speech at the ACORN presidential forum. I can't think of anything more patriotic I could do for the fourth of July than publish a diary about John Edwards's and ACORN's efforts to help working Americans.
This past Sunday, I attended a conversation about the homeless at a church in my hometown, St. Petersburg, Florida. We have been having quite the time with the homeless here in St. Petersburg lately, and this church was trying to do something to help. The church was holding an open house to discuss its plans for helping the homeless in our community. It was the conversation that took place outside the church, in the shade of the pine trees that I want to share with you.
For the back story, the church's plans and the conversation, follow me...
It appears that greed is at the root of an unconscionable act being perpetrated by one of the largest charitable organizations in this country. This past Tuesday, lawyers for the Salvation Army acting like hard nosed, heartless Scrooges hand-delivered 30-day eviction notices and had the process filmed for legal evidence. Women are being evicted from buildings which had been "donated to the Salvation Army decades ago specifically to provide housing for women of modest income."
The Salvation Army, the second-largest charity in America, is quietly evicting nearly 200 women, many of them elderly and low-income, from a pair of 18-story Manhattan buildings...Tenant leaders at the two single-room occupancy hotels...say officials from the charity have been harassing them for months and have already frightened many long-term residents into moving out.
As the National Association of Realtors opened this fall's gathering in New Orleans last weekend, the mood was decidedly different. The much-celebrated real estate boom has officially ended; nationally, economists now say, the housing market peaked in August 2005. For 2006, the industry expects existing-home sales to fall by 9 percent, and new-home sales to decline 17 percent. In some markets, prices have begun to fall, too.
So the mood is rather glum for the real estate brokers. The real estate boom has officially ended and we're currently in a real estate bust. Because of the double-digit price increases in home sales over the years, the demand for housing started drying up, causing an increasing supply of houses on the market, and thus forcing prices down on housing. And because of this housing market bust, we've got uncertainty in the market. It is doom and gloom for the brokers.
But it gets better--find out who the brokers are blaming for this crashing housing market. More below the fold.
According to a story in yesterday's New York Times, young workers are facing the toughest job market in years. Youth are faced with an inflated real estate market, spiraling healthcare costs, and crippling student debt. Job security is at an all-time low and real wages have been stagnated for years. Young workers are facing a time of extreme economic transition. The current climate of economic insecurity could provide an excellent opening for labor unions to attract young people if they adapt the correct approach.
