Housing
Chicago’s grand public housing project struggles
An investigation by Jason Grotto, Laurie Cohen and Sara Olkon of the Chicago Tribune reveals the realities of a 10-year plan to rehabilitate Chicago’s public housing. The investigation found “that almost nine years into what was billed as a 10-year program, the city has completed only 30 percent of the plan’s most ambitious element —…
Read MoreObama got discount on home loan
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama got a discount on the $1.32 million loan for his Chicago mansion, obtaining an interest rate of 5.625 percent on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, below the average for such loans at the time in Chicago. Washington Post investigative reporter Joe Stephens found that, compared with the average terms offered…
Read MoreAnatomy of a Meldown: The Credit Crisis
A three-part series by The Washington Post dissects the current credit crisis. The series looks at how forces aligned to create “the biggest American housing boom since the 1950s,” the stress on the market when new homes went unsold and foreclosures mounted, and finally how the overall impact of the housing market implosion.
Read MoreOver $500,000 in low-income housing funds misspent by nonprofit
An investigation by AmyJo Brown, of the Pine Bluff Commercial (Pine Bluff, Ark.), revealed that over $500,000 in federal money earmarked for low-income housing was misspent by Progressive Southeast Arkansas Housing Development Corporation, a local nonprofit leading the city’s low-income housing development project. “The records show that of the 47 new, low-income houses and four…
Read MoreBorrowed Time
An investigative series by The Columbus Dispatch analyzed the impact of the subprime mortgage crisis in central Ohio, as well as the future impact to the region. “A wave of foreclosures during recent years has pushed property values downward for the first time in decades,” the Dispatch analysis found.
Read MoreCity repair fund provides scant relief to tenants
In a fourth installment of The Washington Post‘s Forced Out series, about abusive landlords who drive tenants from rent-controlled apartments, Debbie Cenziper and Sarah Cohen report that D.C. government has widely misused a multi-million dollar fund to repair buildings when landlords refuse to do the work. “In the past three years, the (city) spent $617,000…
Read MoreNetwork of flipping founders in Southwest Florida
An investigation by Michael Braga, Aaron Kessler and Charlie Szymanski of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune used social network analysis and hundreds of land and corporation documents to uncover a web of questionable real estate deals involving a Southwest Florida investor and developer. The subject, Mark Brivik, moved properties back and forth between himself, companies he controlled,…
Read MoreForeclosure increase threatens neighborhoods
Brad Branan of The Fresno Bee found that the number of foreclosures in Fresno County increased 405 percent in 2007, with the brunt of the mortgage crisis impacting already vulnerable neighborhoods. According to the article, “Already there are signs that a torrent of foreclosures could trigger more crime and decay in the city’s struggling core.”…
Read MoreNeglect plagues property holdings of ex-NBA star
An investigation by The Sacramento Bee’s Terri Handy and Phillip Reese shows that former NBA star Kevin Johnson is responsible for a slew of neglected properties in the downtrodden area of Oak Park where his investments have been widely publicized and praised. “Within a two-mile radius, a Bee investigation found, half of the 37 parcels…
Read MoreSanta Ana block hit hard by subprime lending
John Gittelsohn and Ronald Campbell of The Orange County Register looked at one street in Santa Ana, Calif. to see the impact of subprime lending in the community. Seventeen homeowners on this quiet block took out 83 mortgages, most of them subprime, during a six-year frenzy of deal-making. Easy credit helped triple home prices from…
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