A Future for Homeownership

A Future for Homeownership

At this point, it’s no secret that America has an affordable housing problem. Home ownership, long the staple of the “American Dream,” is increasingly a privilege enjoyed only by the wealthier and whiter. For many young people, the opportunity their parents had...
What Happened to All Those Foreclosed Houses?

What Happened to All Those Foreclosed Houses?

We know that millions of American families lost their homes after Wall Street’s 2007 financial crash. But where did all those houses go? It turns out that Wall Streeters themselves formed profiteering investment groups that rushed out to scoop up tens of...
The Rigged Housing Market

The Rigged Housing Market

An upscale housing development in Wilton, Connecticut (all of Wilton is upscale) is having no trouble selling its 20 units for $800,000 each. On average, homes in that town now fetch more than $1 million a piece. And real estate experts only rank the region that...
Don’t Fence Me In

Don’t Fence Me In

No job now, Provides the pay, To let me find, A place to stay. Many folks with big incomes are responding to the tensions of America’s growing economic inequality by moving into gated communities. This isn’t new, just growing more common. Ten percent of us...

America’s Housing Paradox

My whole life’s Been in a trough; Since my apartment Got sold off. As the Bible pointedly reminds us, rains fall alike upon the just and the unjust. Nowhere is this axiom more pointed than in securing a place to live. Sure, maybe some of those luckless...