Homeless/Unhoused: Potato/Potahto, A Spreading Human Catastrophe
The word 'homeless' is undergoing something of a redefinition, replaced by the word 'unhoused' by some people. Is the intent to assist those people who are safely housed to...
Memphis Pulls Pennies Together To Repair Aging Dwellings
Memphis Tennessee has figured out a nifty way to help their residents with low incomes pay for essential home repairs. All monthly power bills are rounded up to the...
Getting The Best From The U.S. Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program
The Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program (LIHTC by common usage, pronounced Lie-tek) has become the major source of affordable housing supply in the United States.
With commitments to community...
Highest Ever Fine Handed Out To Big UK Social Landlord. What’s Going On Here?
L&Q Housing is a social housing landlord that rents out some 105,000 homes in Britain. The United Kingdom's Housing Ombudsman, newly armed with the recently passed Social Housing Act, slapped...
Seattle Neighbourhood Densification: Bring On the Mid-Rises! . . . Hunh?
Here's a meander towards an unexpected quirk in the news. In some countries, the local press tends to be infected by NIMBYNIMBY = Not In My Back Yard hostility....
Deeply Affordable Housing Is Needed – Is A Donation The Best I Can Do?
This post starts with an story about Mères avec pouvoir, which supports single moms in Montréal, Québec. The wraparound services include help with child care, education and housing. The...
Developer Wet Dream: Housing That Fails The Test Of Time
New York City is blessed with an enormous amount of public housing that has so far withstood the test of time. Yes, it needs 40+ billion dollars for repairs....
“Social Enterprises” Interlock To Build New Winnipeg Social Housing
A message of advice caught our attention in a report of new social housing under construction in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
As a framework for the enterprises that have combined to finance...
When Developers Kiss & Cuddle With City Hall: A Cautionary Tale
Yes, free market developers might well be able to do "it" better, cheaper and in a more timely fashion than a public developer, such as a city government.
If they...
When NIMBY Battlements Fall, Unseemly Victors Gorge On Plunder
Unseemly? Unseemliness?
Unseemliness describes a maniacal gobble-fest between competitors for profits. In this terminology, the behaviour of a flock of seagulls fighting over a spilled bag of chips is . ....
Habitat for Humanity Middle Class Follies: None Too Impressive?
Housing For Humanity: a world-beating affordable housing charity now approaching middle age, which is no longer able capable of keeping up with the changing times?
We certainly hope not. But...
Driving 100 Years Down The Road With Low Income Housing Tax Credits
Quoting from an excellent, detailed article on the implementation of Low Income Housing Tax Credits in West Oakland, Pittsburg, PA: "With 9% LIHTC alone, the city would need...
UK Affordable PPP Problem: “One Of Our ‘P’s Is Broken”
Incompetence? Bad Faith? Obsessive fealty to shareholders? Whatever the reason, local United Kingdom councils are starting to finger one of the 'P's in their Affordable Housing Public Private Partnerships...
Affordable Housing: A Rose-Coloured Glasses Moment To Wrap Up 2019
It's a world in which a great many nations pay lip service to the human right to adequate shelter. There are some, including the United States, that don't acknowledge...
The Fuss About “Poor Doors”
Okay, we were as aghast as everybody else that "poor" doors had been installed in a publicly subsidized New York City building so that rich folks didn't need to...
Habitat For Humanity Breaks New Trail In Kamloops British Columbia
Habitat for Humanity, arguably one of the most respected and successful affordable house building charities in the world, is undergoing a sea change.
Even with its ability to mobilize construction...
India Housing Industry Binges On Affordability. Could It Be Fatal?
The Meal: hundreds of thousands of middle class affordable housing units of various stripes and colours
The Tasty Hot Sauce: Government Subsidies
The Unfortunate By-Product: Thousands upon thousands of empty housing...
London Mayor: Private Enterprise Can’t Solve Affordable Housing Crisis
Faced with an affordable housing crisis in his city, the Mayor of London, UK, has pointed out the fatal flaw when it comes to using PPPs (Public Private Partnerships)...
Chicago Partially Affordable Success Points To Ultimate PPP Failure
A promoted advantage of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) is the fact that their very design creates partially affordableWhat does 'partially affordable' mean? Terms such as 'truly affordable' or 'workforce' refer...
Researcher Drags Inclusionary Zoning Through The Mud To Good Purpose
An article in the Baltimore Sun puts the boots to America's current favourite way of building affordable housing — through inclusionary zoning projects that produce partially affordable housing complexes....
In London, UK, New Social Housing Projects Stand Up To Be Noticed
The public face of much-touted public private partnerships (PPP) is a local county council. For several decades now, local councils have been expected to maintain rental housing stock for...
Planning Ahead For The Great Public Private Partnership Poop-Out
Yes indeed, the leopard may change its spots. And the scorpion crossing the river on the back of the frog may not sting it, so that they both drown....
Chicago Ponders the Problem of Seducing Developers To Support Affordable Housing
What to do when coercion does not convince developers to participate in affordable housing projects, with the result that they wriggle off the hook by paying an 'in-lieu-of-participating' fee...
Shelter For All: Most Governments Cower. India Tackles It Head On
Following the landslide re-election for India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, how is his hugely ambitious "Housing For All By 2022" plan coming along?
Not a slam dunk yet, but it...
Austin, Texas Council/Developer Spat: Trouble In PPP Paradise?
Public Private Partnerships are the darlings of neo-conservatives. These are arrangements in which the public, a.k.a government, knows how to levy taxes, but is a screwup in most all...
New Jersey Non-Profit Demonstrates What Community Can Do That Government Can’t
When it comes to affordable housing, New Jersey's bickering between municipalities and the state have set a national benchmark for the lowest possible standard of government commitment to a...
NYC Mission Impossible? PPP That Builds True Affordable Housing. . . In Volume
Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) have been a darling of neo-conservative "leave it to the private sector," thinking. Alas, when it comes to affordable housing in mixed income projects, they've...
$$$ College Housing? $$ But Scarce Off-Campus? Student Union Eyes Third Way
These days, college and university students are often burdened by loans necessary to higher education tuition. This financial problem is only growing. That's because, for those without a convenient...
How Québec And British Columbia Became Canada’s Affordable Housing Leaders
In 1994, the Canadian Federal Government pulled the plug on its social housing programs. Seven years later, the federal government reversed its position and decided to put some funding...
How Denver Downtown Gentrification Freezes Out Essential Workers
"Hospital treatment bookings wait for no person," I reasoned before beginning cancer radiation therapy in downtown Toronto. I planned to travel to my appointments by subway (No sane person...
San Francisco Wants Affordable Housing? Let Them Eat Bibimbap!
People have a way with words, and perhaps we should pay closer attention to how they are used. Buried in a proposal for the development of 'lazy land'Lazy land...
Nooo! Say It Ain’t So! Scotland Builds PPP Affordable Rental Homes Without Government Subsidy
Rental homes of mid-range affordability, as well social rent affordability are in the mix of a new Public/Private Partnership (PPP) project in Dunbar, Scotland.
At affordablehousingaction.org, we feel positively betrayed....
Toronto/Google ‘Futuristic Neighbourhood’ Inches Forward Through A Treacle Of Language
Sidewalk Labs, the private partner in Toronto's waterfront 'Neighbourhood of the Future' is a subsidiary of Alphabet, Google’s parent company. The 'public' partner is Waterfront Toronto, a corporation created...
Irish Non-Profit Tells It Like It Is: Private Enterprise Can Only Do Market Housing
When it comes to affordable housing, the Irish agency representing non-profits, Ó Cualann Cohousing Alliance, dares to debunk the political thinking that has dominated a number of governments in Europe,...
Public/Private Affordable Housing Partnerships: A Spoon Too Short For Supping With The Devil?
'Therfor bihoveth him a ful long spoon/ That shal ete with a feend,' thus herde I seye.' (Canterbury Tales: The Squire's Tale, c1386). In more up to date English:...
Unaffordable Housing Causes Cities To Leak Workers. Realtor Solution? Ethical Investment.
Realtors do not generally get into discussions about affordable housing. Their interests lie in real estate transactions. Still, their views do appear in the media from time to time....
Arkansas Affordable Housing Trust Fund: A Funding Stream Not Optional But Essential
Like a majority of American States, Arkansas has created a Low Income Trust Fund to help it build affordable housing for those most in need.
Unlike a majority of American...
Developer Loses, Community Loses. A Cautionary Affordable Housing Tale From Charlotte, NC
From the Charlotte Explorer comes a small, sad story in the midst of a global housing crisis. It illustrates in a nutshell why 'community interest' housing cannot be pieced...
‘Affordable’ Expiry Dates: The Ticking Time Bomb Under US Affordable Homes
"Public-private partnerships can build American affordable housing more cheaply and more effectively than the failed 3/4 century experiment in public housing."
Is it possible that the above premise was on...
India->Trade Unions->Housing Co-ops->Thousands of Affordable Houses. Could It Happen Elsewhere?
India is the world's second most populous country and it is rapidly developing. Luxury houses are no longer just the palaces of a backward feudal state. Modern sub-developments and...
My Way Is The Highway: Toronto Renters & Buyers Losing Faith With Government, Consider Heading For The Hills
In all housing matters affordable, Toronto has disappointed in recent years. The City has an affordable housing office that has studied the city's housing problem while churning out reports...
Hats Off To An Affordable Housing Builder Who Can’t Solve The Affordable Housing Crisis
We'll leave our hat on first, an unusual act of mourning for the wreck of the USS Public Housing, driven quite deliberately onto the rocks. Conceived and capitalized as...
Collingwood Plans Dorms For The Bums In The New Wilderness: Unaffordability
Industry operating in remote communities inevitably take responsibility for providing employee accommodation. But in tourist towns of Southern Georgian Bay? Really?
The sad truth is that affordable housing is in...
Unaffordable Housing? Some Other Dude Did It. Guilty Fingerpointing From The Housing Market
Public transit takes the fall in an awkward, defensive article about the housing market in Toronto by one of Canada's top business newspapers.
Toronto, for many years overly-conscious of becoming a...
Triumph Of The Housing Also-Rans: Proving Private Enterprise Can Do Affordable
"Business done by government is invariably mediocre, inefficient and wasteful." That's the message of political touts for private-enterprise affordable housing. "Financiers, developers and the construction industry can run rings...
Stubborn Persistence Wins Support For Self-Help Housing In California
When finished, 41 households in Patterson, California, will move into affordable homes that they will help to build. Self-Help Enterprises is the sponsor of the project. The US Department...
The Affordable Housing Blues . . . or Cheap Housing: Crabgrass On The Manicured Lawn Of Human Desire
Don't gimme shelter. Gimme neighborhood slow-taxiing housing values finally lifting off the runway into the free market stratosphere, dragging my house along with with them.
I'm stuck in a down-market,...
Amazon’s Boot On Seattle’s Neck Tells All You Need To Know About Public/Private Partnerships
Amazon, currently ranked the third most valuable company in the world, will not find the dollars to show leadership in a civic, state, national and world affordable housing crisis....
How Library Systems Can Help Address Affordable Housing Crises
Increasing density seems the only option for building affordable housing in the downtown core of many cities. Even smaller homes in higher towers may only temporarily be affordable, if...
UK Affordable Housing Viability Assessments: Can Developers Abuse The Privilege?
What happens when a UK developer, eager for a housing contract that includes a fat government subsidy, deliberately ignores the true cost of the housing and paints a too-rosy...
Yes, Corporations Focus On Their Bottom Line, Maui Edition
The story: In 2001, Maui development company got fast-tracked planning permission, concessions on parking and other benefits, together with the equivalent of fifteen+ million dollars to build an housing...
Public/Private Partnerships: Where Affordable Housing Goes To Die
Governments currently in power the United States and Britain have been dismantling social housing in favour of a starry-eyed vision: a publicly financed affordable housing vehicle with a high...
Top UK Housing Developer: Public / Private Affordable Funding Is Crazy!
A nationally respected housing developer has decided to tell it like it is: the huge financial burden of affordable social housing cannot be born alone by one business sector...
Affordable? The Private Market And Public Intervention Conundrum
So you'd like to think your country might one day have enough affordable housing? Think about it as a drug for a social disease which could be called Shelter-itis.
So...
Can Private Enterprise Ever Support Affordable Housing? Amazon Action Demonstrates Otherwise
Amazon, based in Seattle, Washington, and a seismic presence in that city, has taken issue with a new Seattle business tax. Naturally, that tax will cost one of the richest companies...
Viability Assessments: Are Artful Dodgers Facing A Comeuppance?
In the United Kingdom, affordable housing has been redefined to be anything up to 80% of market value. That makes the war on affordable housing 'a complete red herring'...
Denver Drops Affordable Housing Oversight, Belatedly Discovers That Buyers And Sellers May Cheat
Business managers, bureaucrats, civil servants and politicians seem quite capable of supervising the development of massive housing projects, and are able to factor in all kinds of long-term expenses,...
Unholy Partnership Of ‘NIMBY + Environmental Review’ Proves Toxic To Speedy Affordable Housing Development
Developers and Local Government alike are fond of blaming each other for lengthy delays in the planning of housing projects. In the United Kingdom, a Government draft proposal is...
Housing Future? 24 Market Rate/2 Affordable In Richmond, VA, or 2 Market Rate/92 Affordable In Oakland, CA?
With affordable housing demand far outstripping supply, what are we to make of government affordable housing incentives that produce stories like the following? "Developers in Richmond, VA are excited...
Miracles of Modern Affordable Development: 2 buyers + 1 home = 2x cheaper!
Corporate developers (are there any other kind?) pledge allegiance to shareholders, not fellow citizens. They are compelled to maximize profits and minimize losses. If involved in a public/private partnership...
Social Housing At War With Private/ ‘Affordable’: A View From Trenches
The Battle of social housing is all but lost in North America. One by one the remaining project towers fall, ill-advised 'socialist' political tendencies sharing the blame with drug-addicted,...
Private/Public Partnerships: Were They Always Just A Scam?
Darling of conservative "do it with the private sector" thinking, affordable housing private/public partnerships are now revealing just who gets 'done.' Hint: its not the developers.
Sure, developers are grumbling...
Bottomless Sinkhole Drains Affordable Houses From UK Public/Private Partnerships
It seems that the bloom is off the rose in the United Kingdom, as local councils confront the loophole built into the nation's public/private partnership initiative to fund and...
You Can Control What is Yours. Communities Seeking Affordable Housing Consider Community Ownership.
Municipal handwringing would appear to be the sole, and all-too-frequent, response to privately-developed affordable housing that doesn't quite deliver on its promise. One example: a widespread tendency under new...
Struggling Against The Public Seed Money Cop Out
A story from a local Massachusetts paper illustrates the uphill battle against a long held government mindset: the best projects to fund are seed-money projects: those that grow wings...
Singapore’s Million Dollar Affordable Housing: A Public/Private Partnership Future?
A recent development by Singapore's public Housing and Development Board suggests an alarming future for public/private partnerships in countries who may be helping the needy to find affordable housing...
The State Seizes Your House. Public good? Or Middle-class Land Grab Conspiracy
Is American eminent domain a sinister weakness of public-private partnerships?
Imagine that you own a small, old family dwelling in a downtown neighbourhood that has seen better days. A young...
Public/Private Housing Partnerships. ‘Gullible’ Climbs Into Bed With ‘Venial’
Imagine a partnership in which both parties bring their particular skills and interests to the table. There they strike a fair bargain. Alas, it doesn't necessarily happen in Britain's...