Similar Posts
Is Cooperative Ownership the Answer to Displacement?
An essay in the Houston Chronicle argues that the best way to stop displacement while revitalizing impoverished neighborhoods is through cooperative ownership of a community’s assets: All of the programs that now lace through a distressed neighborhood like Third Ward should be controlled by the low-income people who live there, and all the assets should…
When the Context is Dropped
Denver is considering a law that would require developers to include below-market rate housing in new projects in order to obtain city approval. Known as inclusionary zoning, the proposed law is being modeled after a similar ordinance in Atlanta. Both laws are providing an example of the poor decisions that are made when the context…
Justice Delayed is Justice Denied
In May, a federal district court ruled that the eviction moratorium imposed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is unconstitutional. The judge stayed her injunction, which would have ended the moratorium, pending appeal. The case reached the Supreme Court in June. In late June, four justices voted to vacate the stay. Justice…
A Cautionary Tale
Those with a political agenda often distort facts to suit their purpose. Opponents of rezoning in New York City are an example. They claim that rezoning displaces people of color and are citing a report published by the Churches United for Fair Housing (CUFFH). That report concluded that, While displacement trends existed before the zoning…
The Wrong Framework Leads to Bad Decisions
In my book, The Affordable Housing Crisis: Causes and Cures, I show how a century of policies attempting to provide affordable housing have failed. Indeed, those policies have made the housing crisis worse. Yet, politicians and housing activists clamor for more of the same policies. The wrong framework leads to bad decisions. Minneapolis provides us…
The Ethics of Home Ownership
Altruism can raise its ugly head in myriad, and often surprising, ways. An example comes from, Desiree Lim, an assistant professor of philosophy at Penn State. In an article titled “The ethics of home ownership in an age of growing inequality,” she asserts that “[h]omebuyers also have ethical obligations to others.” Lim goes on to…