On Our Radar

Greater Greater Washington, March 28, 2024, How Federal Stimulus Accidentally Bottlenecked Affordable Housing In DC Low-Income Housing Tax Credits are divided into two categories: 9% LIHTC and 4% LIHTC. 9% LIHTC provide an annual tax credit worth 9% of eligible costs for 10 years (so a total tax credit worth 90% of eligible costs). 4% […]

The New York Times, March 29, 2024, Why It’s So Expensive To Live In Phoenix Arizona exemplifies the stress over housing. Over the past decade, the allure of suburban life under cloudless skies has swelled the population of greater Phoenix to five million from 4.2 million, according to census data. The influx pushed housing prices

The Washington Post, March 30, 2024, Half Of Senior Staffers In Congress Are So Fed Up That They May Quit Only about one in five senior aides on Capitol Hill believe that Congress is “functioning as a democratic legislature should,” and about the same margin believe that it is “an effective forum for debate” on

ABA Banking Journal, March 30, 2024, Federal Court Pauses CRA Rule Implementation Following ABA Lawsuit A federal judge in Texas on Friday issued a preliminary injunction against enforcing new rules implementing the Community Reinvestment Act in a lawsuit brought by the American Bankers Association and other business groups. “While we strongly support the goals of

Vox, April 1, 2024, Multigenerational Housing Is Coming Back In A Big Way The research arm of the apartment listing and resident services company RentCafe went granular on Gen Z and found that 68 percent over the age of 18 still live with a parent or parents. As for millennials, 20 percent are back with mom

The Baltimore Sun, March 26, 2024, Maryland Environment Bill Draws Concern From Communities It Aims To Protect A bill before the General Assembly this year has been hailed by Maryland’s environment secretary as a critical next step for incorporating environmental justice into state decision-making. But it doesn’t have the support of the community that the

Business Insider, March 26, 2024, Housing Affordability Has Improved, But Not By Much According to Redfin, prospective buyers in the US need to make $114,000 a year to afford the median-priced home. That’s 35% more than the typical US household median income of $84,072.  In terms of location, buyers in San Antonio, Texas only needed

Next City, March 26, 2024, A Long-Awaited Black-Led Credit Union Finally Gets The Green Light Chartering a new credit union today is like traversing a long lost trail through the woods, one that used to be well-traveled but is now overgrown, littered with fallen trees and other obstacles no one has had to navigate in many

Axios Columbus, March 26, 2024, First-Time Buyers Dominate Ohio Housing Market First-time homebuyers received 63% of mortgage offers in Ohio in 2023, per a recent LendingTree report. Why it matters: It’s one more sign current homeowners are still feeling the golden-handcuffs effect of not wanting to give up existing low-rate mortgages, Axios’ Brianna Crane and Simran Parwani write.

American Banker, March 24, 2024, Racist Emails Becoming Focal Point In Redlining Settlements Discriminatory emails on their own have not been used to allege redlining. Rather they are combined with key lending statistics that show how lenders compare with their peers in making loans in minority communities and whether a lender has avoided locating branches

WMUR, March 25, 2024, New Hampshire Mayors Say Housing, Homelessness Are Top Issues For Cities In Franklin, Mayor Desiree McLaughlin said the pressure on low- and fixed-income residents is getting worse. “We have a lot of seniors who’ve been priced out of their homes or their apartments,” she said. Cities are scrambling to add capacity

Gothamist, March 21, 2024, A Wealthy NJ Town Is Resisting Affordable Housing Plans. Its Defiance Could Be Costly. Millburn Township officials have defied multiple court orders to move forward with development of a 75-unit, 100% affordable housing complex in the heart of their upscale downtown — and last month, the Millburn Township Committee unanimously voted

The Wall Street Journal, March 25, 2024, Windowless Rooms And Town-Gown Battles: How Student Housing Got Expensive The boom in private student housing has set off fights in communities surrounding campuses that have been overwhelmed with private developments. At least five have moved to temporarily ban or regulate student apartments. Housing costs for students living on

The Real Deal, March 25, 2024, Good Cause, Bad Cause: Albany’s Recipe For Failure The Empire State has been losing this battle for a while. New York once had 45 House of Representatives members. It now has 26. Population shifts have shrunk the delegation by 42 percent. As Gov. Kathy Hochul keeps saying, we have

Aspen Institute, March 18, 2024, Same Income, Same 401(k), Different Account Balance: The Critical Role Of Retirement Plan Design In Addressing Racial And Gender Retirement Savings Gaps To realize the promise of inclusive retirement savings, we have work to do. First, we have to expand access to the 57 million workers—disproportionately workers of color, women, and workers