Housing

British Columbia has converted nearly two dozen formerly notorious hotels into housing for the homeless.

October 30, 2009 - The Tyee

A collection of non-profits working with HUD is promising to spend $4 billion on updating affordable housing across the country to be more sustainable.

October 27, 2009 - Grist

GOOD Magazine highlights designer Michael McDaniel's Reaction Housing System, a temporary shelter that can be stacked up and loaded onto a flatbed 20 at a time.

October 27, 2009 - GOOD Magazine

2009 is expected to turn out as a bad year for residential constructoin in New York City. After five consecutive years with more than 30,000 units constructed, at total of 6,300 are expected this year.

October 26, 2009 - The New York Times

The United Nations has appointed a special envoy to evaluate whether lack of access to affordable housing in New York is so bad it violates basic human rights.

October 25, 2009 - The New York Times

Cohousing, which is cooperatively-managed but independently-owned housing, is gaining popularity in the Northwest. A new cohousing project in Portland just opened its doors last weekend.

October 22, 2009 - Northwest Hub

A new report shows a dramatic trend in homelessness: increasing numbers of former homeowners left with nowhere to live after foreclosure are turning to homeless shelters.

October 21, 2009 - The New York Times

Housing development, architecture and community building have found a new learning lab in the lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans.

October 19, 2009 - The Atlantic

Foreclosed homes in Phoenix are a new goldmine for one developer, who is buying up land near the city's mass transit lines and marketing properties as transit oriented development.

October 17, 2009 - NPR

Despite the NYC Mayor's progress in preserving or creating affordable housing, overall the city has seen net losses.

October 15, 2009 - The New York Times

Developers of Sterling Ranch, a proposed master-planned community in Colorado, want its future residents to curb their water use. One way they're ensuring this is by nixing traditional, lush lawns from their plans.

October 15, 2009 - The Wall Street Journal

Portland, Oregon is half-way through its ten-year plan to address homelessness. The city's seen improvements, but many challenges lie ahead, according to this report.

October 15, 2009 - Oregon Public Broadcasting

A four-year study by United Way of Greater Los Angeles has shown that stable housing provides benefits to taxpayers as well as the homeless.

October 14, 2009 - Los Angeles Times

The high amount of foreclosures is expected to make things tougher for Census officials as they prepare for 2010 Census enumeration.

October 14, 2009 - The Associated Press

Joel Kotkin sees a trend in a 'New Localism'- people aren't moving around like they used to, and it's causing them to reengage with their communities.

October 13, 2009 - Newsweek

Avi Friedman has some ideas of how to make housing more affordable. He says that the focus is too much on the mortgage and subsidies side and not enough on lower building costs.

October 10, 2009 - Northwest Hub

Thousands of subdivisions across the country have been abandoned mid-development by owners and developers hit hard by the economic recession. This video takes a tour inside one of these "zombie subdivisions".

October 7, 2009 - CNN

The Los Angeles City Council has unanimously approved a measure that will require an anti-graffiti coating on all new buildings in the city.

October 4, 2009 - NBC

Rumor had it that the site of the infamous Pruitt-Igoe projects remains empty because the foundations are impossible to demolish. Turns out that the problem is politics, not pilings.

October 2, 2009 - Urban Review STL

HUD needs to rethink its emphasis on home ownership and refocus on rentals, argues John Kromer of the Fels Institute of Government.

September 28, 2009 - John Kromer