América do Norte

When Low-Income Tenants Face Eviction

Published in Wednesday December 12th, 2012 In Opinion

In “Tipping the Scales in Housing Court” (Op-Ed, Nov. 30), Matthew Desmond makes a compelling case for assisting low-income tenants facing eviction by providing them with lawyers. It’s sound social policy and a strong showing of decent morality. The issue of evictions is embedded within the context of a broader goal: ensuring and increasing housing stability.

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Obama’s Storm-Aid Bid to Be About $50 Billion

Published in Thursday December 6th, 2012 In In the media

President Obama plans to ask Congress for about $50 billion in emergency funds to help rebuild the states that were ravaged by Hurricane Sandy, challenging deficit-minded lawmakers while worrying regional leaders, who complained Wednesday that it was not enough.

The White House will send the proposal to Capitol Hill this week, and while the final sum is still in flux, it should be between $45 billion and $55 billion, according to officials briefed on deliberations over it.

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How the Coastline Became a Place to Put the Poor

Published in Thursday December 6th, 2012 In Opinion

In retrospect, after the storm, it looked like a perverse stroke of urban planning. Many of New York City’s most vulnerable people had been housed in its most vulnerable places: public housing projects along the water, in areas like the Rockaways, Coney Island, Red Hook and Alphabet City.
How is it possible that the same winding, 538-mile coastline that has recently been colonized by condominium developers chasing wealthy New Yorkers, themselves chasing waterfront views, had been, for decades, a catch basin for many of the city’s poorest residents? The answer is a combination of accident, grand vision and political expedience.

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The Affordable Housing Crisis in the US

Published in Thursday December 6th, 2012 In In the media

December 04, 2012 New York Times Editorial The precious few federal programs that provide rental assistance to the nation’s poorest and most vulnerable families are already underfinanced. These programs provide decent housing for about only a quarter of the low-income families who qualify for them. And with nearly nine million households teetering on the verge of […]

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CoreLogic: 58,000 Homes Lost to Foreclosure in October in the US

Published in Tuesday December 4th, 2012 In In the media

December 3rd, 2012 There were 58,000 foreclosures completed in the United States during the month of October, CoreLogic reported Monday with the release of its latest National Foreclosure Report. October’s tally was down 17 percent from last year when 70,000 foreclosures were completed during the month.   On a month-over-month basis, completed foreclosures fell 25 percent. CoreLogic […]

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Free Webinar: “The Human Right to Housing: A Report Card on U.S. Policy”

Published in Tuesday December 4th, 2012 In Mobilisation and agenda

FREE WEBINAR  The Human Right to Housing: A Report Card on U.S. Policy Monday, December 10 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. EST On Monday, December 10, in commemoration of Human Rights Day, the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty will be hosting a free webinar on U.S. compliance with the human right to housing. In June 2011, the […]

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Hurricane Sandy’s Rising Costs

Published in Friday November 30th, 2012 In Opinion

November 27, 2012 The New York Times Editorial Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s latest request for federal aid to help New York recover from Hurricane Sandy presents a shattering picture of what a giant storm can do to a dense metropolitan area. The total price tag, he said, would be more than $42 billion: $33 billion to repair […]

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Tipping the Scales in Housing Court

Published in Friday November 30th, 2012 In Opinion

November 29, 2012 by MATTHEW DESMOND IT’S easy to tell who’s going to win in eviction court. On one side of the room sit the tenants: men in work uniforms, mothers with children in secondhand coats, confused and crowded together on hard benches. On the other side, often in a set-aside space, are not the landlords […]

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A Vacant Lot Offers Refugees a Taste of Home

Published in Tuesday November 27th, 2012 In In the media

The refugees are accidental farmers in an unlikely urban field that is part of an ambitious plan to transform vacant land. The lot sits on one of the busiest corners of this expansive city, across from an English pub, near a light-rail stop and in sight of the glimmering high rises that punctuate downtown.

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U.S. Asks New York Landlords for Vacant Apartments to House Displaced Families

Published in Monday November 12th, 2012 In In the media

November 11, 2012 City, state and federal officials are trying to assemble a pool of vacant apartments in New York City that could supplement the city’s shelter system in housing hundreds if not thousands of families displaced by storm damage and power outages. Although many people have clung to their homes despite having neither heat nor […]

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