Housing
Loan deal raises questions
Mike McGraw and Michael Mansur of The Kansas City Star uncovered documents showing that a city housing agency provided what experts called a “sweetheart” loan to a group redeveloping an apartment building. The recipient defended the financing, although “neither the original loan documents nor later changes in the agreement were ever made public by recording…
Read MoreHousing bond falls short on promises
John Hill of The Sacramento Bee found that a $2.1 billion bond California voters approved to provide affordable housing hasn’t delivered. “With the pot more than half gone, a Bee investigation has found that what taxpayers are getting falls far short of those promises – a reality that takes on added importance as California officials…
Read MoreNew homebuyers slammed by high prices, high taxes
Troy Anderson of the Los Angeles Daily News reports on soaring property tax revenues in Los Angeles city and county. “The revenues have been a boon for local governments, with homeowners paying $9.5 billion in property taxes in fiscal 2004-05, compared with $6.7 billion in 2000-01.” Property owners have been paying differing rates since the…
Read MoreThousands of home permits issued for fire-prone areas
Jim Miller and Ben Goad of The (Riverside, Calif.) Press-Enterprise use mapping software to plot thousands of new home permits issued since the 2003 Southern California fires and then compared the points to state maps showing fire threat. “In the 18 months after the firestorms of 2003, Inland cities and counties issued permits for more…
Read MoreDevelopers have big plans for rural areas
John McCarthy of the Florida Today analyzed and mapped data from the Brevard County Property Appraiser’s database to report on growth and development in Brevard County, Fla. McCarthy found that land developers in the county “plan to turn agricultural land in the far reaches of the county into upscale housing developments …” The project includes…
Read MoreTax abatements benefit downtown owners
Gregory S. Reeves of The Kansas City Star analyzed county data on tax breaks given to properties in downtown Kansas City, finding that “more than 1,700 properties in Jackson County enjoy some kind of property tax abatement,” including several expensive condo buildings. Meanwhile, many residential property owners are facing double-digit increases in their assessments.
Read MoreSection 8 failing to provide adequate housing
Antonio Olivo, John Bebow and Darnell Little of the Chicago Tribune used local data to show that “private landlords are fast taking over government’s traditional role of housing Chicago’s poor. But these subsidized ‘Section 8’ landlords have been failing four out of every 10 inspections” during the last five years. “More than 6,000 landlords failed…
Read MoreMedium home value soars
William M. Hartnett of The Palm Beach Post analyzed ten years’ of housing sales for Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties, finding that median home prices have jumped dramatically during that period. In a special section published Sunday, the paper mapped neighborhoods according to median sale value and reported that water access costs more…
Read MoreHome assessment accuracy up
Gregory S. Reeves of The Kansas City Star used Jackson County real estate data to show that “an old problem – over-valuing homes under $50,000 – may have gotten worse with the new property tax appraisals … and homes that sold for $600,000 and up remain under-appraised by 25 percent.” Most houses, the paper found,…
Read MorePoor care at nursing homes leads to light punishments
Jeffrey Meitrodt, Jan Moller and Steve Ritea of The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune used state data to show that “most of Louisiana’s 300 or so nursing homes have been cited since 1999 for mistakes that harmed or endangered residents. But in the sometimes illogical world of nursing home regulation, facilities in Louisiana often pay little or…
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