As the economy rebounds, the federal government still plays a role in the mortgage business. NPR’s Planet Money investigates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s recent activity within the context of conservatorship.
Difficulty accessing affordable transportation, child care and housing are all magnified in a rural place like Vermont. The Unique Challenges Facing Vermont’s Rural Homeless Population is the subject of a Vermont Public Radio feature.
Vermont deploys a range of services provided by organizations throughout the state, but is also committed to a Housing First model for addressing homelessness. Paul Dragon, Director of Vermont’s Office of Economic Opportunity, said, “It’s hard to work on many of the other issues, particularly finding employment or getting someone’s diabetes or hypertension under check, or getting them to counseling for substance or mental health, if they don’t have a home … So that is a big component of Housing First. Let’s get people stabilized, get them in a home, and then we can work on these other issues.”
In the second installment of his series on “America’s Poorest Towns” for www.thinkprogress.org, Scott Rodd writes a series of essays profiling people trying to cope with persistent poverty in Beattyville, KY.
Rodd interviews several residents of Beattyville in an effort to identify the root cause of the town’s continued poverty and economic struggles. These stories help to illustrate the depth and breadth of challenges a persistently poor rural community faces.
Read the first story in the series, which profiles Campti, LA.
The Low-Income Housing Coalition’s latest issue of its Housing Spotlight examines the gap between the supply and demand for affordable rental units at the national and state level. The report, Affordable Housing is Nowhere to be Found for Millions, provides a detailed look at the housing needs of low-income renter households across the country. According to the report, there are only 31 affordable and available rental units for every 100 extremely low-income renter households. The report highlights a variety of factors that have contributed to this growing issue and notes that without government intervention at the federal, state, and local level, the gap will only continue growing.
The US Department of Housing and Urban Development released the executive summary to their 2015 Worse Case Housing Needs Report to Congress. The report found that the unmet need for decent, safe, and affordable rental housing continues to outpace the ability of federal, state, and local governments to supply housing assistance. Although worst case housing needs have decreased since 2013, the shortage of affordable rental housing is still problematic. In 2015, 6 of 10 extremely low-income renters and 3 of 10 very low-income renters still did not have access to affordable and available housing units.
The 2015 Broadband Progress Report from the Federal Communications Commission indicates that over half of rural Americans lack access to benchmark broadband connections. For rural tribal lands, approximately 85 percent lack proper broadband.
Affordable housing programs were not to blame for the financial crisis, according to a study highlighted in Wonkblog. The study indicates that the the majority of mortgage dollars and defaults from 2003 – 2006 occurred in higher cost mortgages.
What does FHA’s new interest rate drop mean for borrowers? NPR’s Marketplace Economy investigates the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA’s) new lower charges and how it may impact housing affordability across markets.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) launches a toolkit that will help consumers shop for a mortgage by finding the best rates in their area based on data the agency gathers from lenders.
A different angle on life in public housing. National Public Radio (NPR) features an art exhibit that includes numerous photos of public housing residents who have had successes, both large and small