Housing
Housing program fails to aid low-income families
A story by William Heisel of the Los Angeles Times focuses on the failures of the federal government’s efforts to revitalize the housing market and to increase affordable housing. For a decade, the Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) has been giving local governments homes to refurbish and resell to low-income buyers. The story…
Read MoreFelon operates ineffective foreclosure rescue trusts
For an investigation of foreclosure rescue schemes, the San Diego Union-Tribune analyzed all quitclaim deeds filed in San Diego County between January 2007 and October 2008. The investigation led reporter Eleanor Yang Su to Apocalypse and Amerisian trusts, which are ran by convicted felon Edmundo Rubi. According to the article, “In some operations, homeowners quitclaimed…
Read MoreContaminated properties ignored for more than a decade
Sharon Coolidge of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports that a “review of city health records found that 55 of the 268 properties identified as having lead hazards have been on the city’s books since before 1999. Yet the properties have not been cleaned and the owners have not been prosecuted.” Families have continued to move into…
Read MoreA look at Seattle’s suffering real estate market
Working off a report from Zillow.com stating that 29 percent of homes in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue area sold at a loss during the final months of 2008, Karen Gaudette and Justin Mayo of The Seattle Times extended the analysis and traced the depreciation trend back to 2005. They also compiled lists of the cities in Snohomish…
Read MoreMillions paid for uncompleted renovation and building projects
The seventh installment of The Washington Post‘s “Forced Out” series explores how a longtime city council member and former U.S. Housing and Urban Development official was paid millions of dollars for a series of housing projects marred by double-billing and dubious deals. In one case, the developer received $25 million from U.S. HUD to help dozens…
Read MoreChicago Housing Authority falling behind goals
Jason Grotto, Laurie Cohen and Sara Olkon of the Chicago Tribune found that the Chicago Housing Authority, despite vows to reform its failing policies, has spent hundreds of millions of federal tax dollars on “housing complexes that preserve the very policies the plan was meant to reverse.” With crime and pollution on the rise, many…
Read MoreCluster of foreclosures linked to loose lending practices
Cary Spivak and Daniel Bice of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel identified the four inner city neighborhoods hit the hardest by the mortgage meltdown in Milwaukee and zeroed in on the lending practices. The reporters found that many of the people who lost homes to foreclosure never should have gotten loans in the first place. But…
Read MoreSection 8 vouchers lead to suburban migration, new challenges
In an effort to break up large-scale public housing projects riddled by crime, Section 8 vouchers have created the opportunity for low-income families to move into suburbs, according to a report by Gregory Korte of the Cincinnati Enquirer. The opportunity for a more stable community is not without its challenges, and many Section 8 tenants…
Read MoreWeak rules hinder appraiser oversight
Mitch Weiss of the Associated Press found that the system set up to protect consumers from rogue appraisers following the savings and loan crisis nearly 20 years ago has failed, playing a major role in America’s housing collapse. His six-month investigation showed more than two dozen states and territories are violating federal law by failing…
Read MoreUnsafe Haven series
Mary Zahn and Ben Poston of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel detailed the rising number of injuries and serious violations at nursing homes in the state of Wisconsin. The reporters reviewed more than 20,000 pages of documents and built their own database of accidents, injuries and deaths spanning the past 3 ½ years. They found that…
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