Confusion reins at Freddie Mac where the quasi-governmental agency cannot bridge the roles of oversight and profiteering. The organization was hit twice by negative news reports this week; one for gagging employees from disclosing dealings and another for failing to provide audit oversight to banks receiving stimulus money. Meanwhile, FEMA continues to fumble and fret [...]
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Archive | October, 2009
An Austin designer’s interesting approach to post-disaster shelter
October 28, 2009
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Austin designer Michael McDaniel has developed an alternative temporary housing solution to the FEMA trailer. He calls it the Reaction Housing System, a temporary shelter that can be stacked up and loaded onto a flatbed 20 at a time. It is an interesting option to provide extremely short-term shelter. In real world applications however the [...]
Read moreAre Some Inclusionary Zoning Ordinances Promoting Racial Segregation?
October 27, 2009
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Inclusionary zoning is a policy whereby a city or municipality mandates that a certain percentage of units in newly constructed multifamily developments has lower-than-market rents. This practice may also designate a proportion of newly built single family homes within subdivisions to be sold below fair market value. It would seem that by implementing these zoning [...]
Read more3 important policy questions for expanded $327m Texas Weatherization Assistance Program
October 26, 2009
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Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) in Texas Another housing program expanded by the 2009 Recovery Act was the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP). WAP funds local agencies to provide minor home repairs to low-income Texans. These repairs increase the energy efficiency of the housing stock and reduce the heating and cool components of the housing cost. The [...]
Read more“To feel useful in this old world”
October 23, 2009
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Yesterday’s blog post, actually ghostwritten by Kristin Carlisle, stirred the recollections of more than one reader regarding the portrayal by Fess Parker of Davy Crockett in the 1960′s Walt Disney television series that bore the name of the famous illegal immigrant to Texas. I too was a Fess Parker fan and was saddened as a [...]
Read moreThe real poverty rate in US is much higher
October 22, 2009
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In Ben Bernanke’s America, the recession is ending, stocks are rising, and cash is flowing. The housing crisis is over: banks that invested in subprime loans are flush with taxpayer dollars. The tent cities have disappeared from the outskirts of our cities, or at least they have disappeared from the front pages of our newspapers. [...]
Read moreBo McCarver’s weekly housing news compilation – 10/20/2009
October 21, 2009
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Seeking to provide mortgages to a huge wait-list of first-time homeowners refused by private banks, the Obama Administration has initiated a program in hope of jump-starting the faltering housing industry. Meanwhile, analysts note that the big banks are profiting while mortgage defaults skyrocket, thanks to federal bailouts. The GAO has examined FEMA’s performance and released [...]
Read moreBo McCarver’s Weekly Housing News Compilation – 10/13/2009
October 13, 2009
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Having exhausted the over-sold mortgage ruse, predators now set their sights on reverse mortgages and the elderly. As the scams spread, consumer advocacy groups press for tighter rules with the usually sandbagging by the banking industry. In Galveston, homeowners still wait for the city and county to set up programs to spend $90 million to [...]
Read moreHousing Tax Credit Assistance Program: A second bite at the apple?
October 12, 2009
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One of the TDHCA programs we are tracking with our new American Recovery and Reinvestment Act accountability initiative is the Tax Credit Assistance Program (TCAP). The website for the program explains “The current economic crisis has decreased demand for [housing] tax credits [HTCs] by investors” and “TCAP provides funding through the HOME Program to compensate [...]
Read moreBo McCarver’s weekly housing news compilation – 10/6/2009
October 6, 2009
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The bank doesn’t want your mortgage: with more profit to be made at less risk in other ventures, banks are increasingly rejecting mortgage applicants. The reasons are often miniscule but data show a clear racial bias against people of color. In Dallas, jurors have found former mayor pro tem Don Hall guilty of taking kickback [...]
Read moreWill corruption convictions bring reform to housing programs?
October 5, 2009
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In the wake of the conviction of former Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill and Planning Commissioner D’Angelo Lee in the housing tax credit corruption trial, Dallas Morning News reporter Rudolph Bush writes in his City Hall Blog today… The alleged fraud revolved around minority contracting requirements and community housing development corporations. But so far, [...]
Read moreFormer Dallas Mayor Pro Tem and others guilty in housing tax credit case
October 5, 2009
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The Dallas Morning News reports the federal district court jury found all of the defendants in the Dallas Low Income Housing Tax Credit corruption scandal guilty. Hill was found guilty on seven charges, including bribery and conspiracy to commit bribery. D’Angelo Lee, Hill’s appointee to the Dallas Plan Commission, was guilty on seven counts. Sheila Farrington, [...]
Read moreBo McCarver’s weekly housing news compilation – 9/28/2009
October 5, 2009
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Thousands of Gulf Coast poor driven inland by Hurricanes Katrina and Ike have not returned; many choose not to and many simply can’t. While their stories vary widely, a common thread is that federal and state assistance is inadequate to help the most vulnerable. In Texas, only about 40 percent of $428 million in federal [...]
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