Ownership Debated

Tent encampments are a visual reminder of homelessness. They are hard for us to look at. Some see the people living there are failures. Others don't want to look...

Two unrelated people buying a house is becoming more common, not only in EuropeTry: Not Married But Need To Share A House? Verantwortungsgemeinschaften! , but also the United States. The...

Hey, would-be home buyers worldwide, not to mention those renters who are impoverished by helping 'buy-to-rent' landlords pay off their third or fourth home! This post is for you. How 'with...

Not all that long ago, renting a home on the free market was the essential penny-saving survival means in the UK. It was once cheaper and more readily available...

Attention Denizens of Legendary Dogpatch, USA! Which of America's Biggest and Best Cities might entice you to buy in to the American Home Ownership Dream? If you are actually American,...

It was in a Toronto Fitness Centre locker room that a local University prof spilled the ugly beans to Affordablehousingaction.org about citizen self-protective(?) behaviour. "Immigrants are only pro-immigration until they...

The decline of United Kingdom social housing? How best to inspire a reader on the subject? As an historical treatise, step by stumble through a succession of right...

If you've been following our posts, you'll know that we've behaved a little like breathless enthusiasts about an emerging activist housing philosophy. North America is seeing currently fashionable proposals...

Then there's the brother-in-law, needing to replace an old porch door. Alas, it's old enough to be a non-standard size and so needs to be custom-ordered, skyrocketing the cost....

With the advent of the 50 year housing mortgage in the United Kingdom, housing wealth can be 'rented' from a bank or mortgage company, costing for many a lifetime...

Putting 'celebrating' and 'stalling housing prices' in the same phrase will probably ensure that people read at least a few pages of Generation Squeeze's new report: Celebrating Stalling Prices...

AAHA! Fooled us with that name, didn't they? We were expecting a rabbit pulled from a hat and have instead latched on to a group of Canadian architects, designers and...

The connection between housing and health came late to the table when researchers began studying the social determinants of healthTry: Connecting The Housing And Health Dots . Researchers have...

The article linked below actually sets out with a more ambitious agenda than 'a collection of thoughts.' It considers Why the rental housing market is so deeply broken. As...

Liz Truss is one of the candidates to become the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. She really doesn't like housing targetsAs posted on Twitter: Liz Truss: ‘I’ll...

Is ever-build, free-market, middle-class housing the sacred cow of modern western civilization? Follow housing news in a variety of nations and expect to be told what a large and...

With new 'social' housing prayers currently a-murmur across America, we report, with great regret, that an important patron saint of that movement is, if far from dead, doing poorly. That...

The UK's under-siege Prime Minister Boris Johnson is currently attempting to polish his extremely grubby conservative credentials by expanding England's Right To Buy program to residents of the region's...

Leftie, bleeding heart publications such as ourselves just know that the globe's problems, like homelessness, arise from rampant, unrepentant financializers who profit on the backs of the little guys. Well,...

What if Canadian homeowners had suffered the same calamities of the 2008 mortgage meltdown as Americans? Many homeowners in other nations also suffered. Canada largely crested the waves of...

Who can afford affordable housing? KiwibuildTry: New Zealand’s Kiwibuild ‘Affordable’ Housing Stumbles Out Of The Starting Gate was initiated in New Zealand as an ambitious affordable housing program. It came...

A lengthy article from Australia's ABC News poses the question asked in the title above. Can rental housing deliver both a happy, fulfilling lifestyle and housing security? Surely a national...

Mortgage calculators abound for computing the cost of that so-called "National Dream": home ownership. For example, choose a 3% mortgage rate. Inherit, beg, borrow, steal, or work at a...

One in three New Zealand councils are looking to pry elusive rent subsidies dollars from the federal government in order to build social housing. The demand for social (or...

Shelterforce is an American publication promoting community activism in a number of areas, particularly housing. In a recent article, it poses the "what if" question framed in the headline...

European nations such as Denmark and Austria have done very well by housing large portions of their population in social housing. Nowhere, however, has the public housing been such...

Yes, there are people who wonder whether home ownership is all it's cracked up to be. This intriguing point of view diverges substantially from the idea that everyone should...

As cities cores become higher, denser, and more gentrified, the American dream is changing shape. What was once the lure of a single family home on a private lot...

From a worldview of a gang of teenagers trying to break a record for the number who will fit into a car (and haven't noticed they're parked too close...

Currently there's a great deal of hand-wringing about the 'commodification' of housing, in particular its link to exploding housing prices and to blossoming housing crises everywhere. Some go so...

Democratic candidates for the U.S. federal elections in 2020 have broached the subject of reparations for the continued mistreatment of black Americans that followed emancipation. So far, while there...

The housing market collapsed in 2008 and caused an economic recession in the United States, which spread to other countries. It was triggered when new homeowners found themselves 'under...

Part three looks at some of the unexpected consequences of an American Fever-Dream — home ownership, but not just any home: bigger, more unique, prestigious and. . . for reasonably well off citizens . . . affordable.

Let's take the following media declaration at face value: "4 Out Of 5 Americans say there is a housing affordability crisis." Based on a sample of 20,000 people that's...

A recent edition of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation's (CMHC) Housing Market Insight looks at housing trends among baby boomers in the Greater Toronto area. Baby boomers are...

We've seen several articles recently that address a conspiracy-theory notion of an affordable housing 'crisis'. Note in the previous sentence how the quote marks around affordable housing 'crisis' tend...

Over-the-hill American heartland cities are currently licking their lips at the prospect of the reverse migration of talented young professionals from increasingly unaffordable coastal boom towns such as San...

Panhanding on street corners for coffee (or beer)? Not okay! Panhandling for a step up onto the housing ladder, particularly if the handout is enormous? Now you're talking! A National Association...

The American Dream (which was once something elseThere’s a Wikipedia post about the American Dream from a range of perspectives.) has for a while time now been to 'own...

The housing market, most unfortunately, is absolutely everywhere. As well, it's absolutely stuck in its everywhere place. (With rare exceptions, nobody buys a house — should they be able...

"Affordable Housing? How quaint. Of course. Only take it somewhere else. Otherwise I personally guarantee to shove your XXXX up your YYYY until you bleed buckets and scream for...

Depending on the city you live in, affordable rental housing can be difficult to find, let alone 'rent to own' housing. However, any housing wrinkle may be worth a...

Compulsory city gambling??? But how else do you describe taking general city revenue to run lotteries with housing loans as the prizes? The saddest thing about this proposal is...

"Affordable" housing? Just what does it actually mean? Current confusion over the term "affordable" housing has been deliberately fomented by some of the major players in the homebuilding sector,...

Recent house financing developments in India make a case for looking beyond a country's borders when looking for best practices for financing and constructing affordable housing. Risky lending practices, buying,...

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,...

Apologies for yet another California story. But since the state is ground zero for both affordable Housing and for homelessness, things may well happen here before anywhere else. On to...

A contradictory headline describes the dilemma of the City Council in Bristol, which is trying to move quickly to provide affordable housing for their community. The need may be...

The free market buying and selling of housing for profit (flipping) is the single greatest cause of today's affordable housing crisis world wide. Mom and pop flipping is bad...

The housing in the first bylaw was too large. The housing in the second bylaw was too small. But the housing in the third bylaw was just right. Goldilocks...

Not long ago, there was a growing crisis of housing affordability. To pay more than 30% of your salary for rent was to expose you and your family to...

$70,000 home ownership? It's still possible in 'Manufactured Home Communities'.  That phrase captures solid industrial strength paired with cozy neighbourhoods. Apparently, some 37,000 such communities around America enjoy this kind...

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...

Financial assistance for home buyers can come in several forms. On the surface, government cash handouts or tax relief strongly appear to make housing more affordable. But those with...

In a recent speech committing to more British affordable housing, Prime Minister Theresa May was quick to find culprits everywhere, but not so much on her own doorstep. The...

We are bringing up (and often helicoptering) children in an age of smart-phones, X-boxes play-dates and supervised after school care. Letting a child walk alone five blocks to school...