A new report by Oakland, CA nonprofit Urban Strategies Council reveals that a massive surge has occurred in investor-speculator ownership in the city's low-income neighborhoods in the wake of the foreclosure crisis.
A new report by the Oakland-based nonprofit Urban Strategies Council shows that-as of October 2011-investors had acquired 42 percent of all properties that went through foreclosure since 2007 in Oakland. Of these properties acquired by investors, 93 percent are located in the low-income flatland neighborhoods of the city. Further, only ten out of the top 30 most active investors are located in Oakland.
The findings in the report raise a series of questions regarding the role that investors are playing-and will continue to play-in Oakland neighborhoods already devastated by the foreclosure crisis. The spike in non-local ownership and non-owner occupied housing presents new concerns related to the extraction of wealth from low-income neighborhoods, in addition to ongoing property maintenance and management issues. Given the nearly exclusive concentration of investor activity in Oakland's low-income neighborhoods, the new report considers what the rapid surge in investor-ownership might mean regarding shifting tenure, neighborhood succession, and the displacement of residents.
Read the full story: Who Owns Your Neighborhood? The Role of Investors in Post-Foreclosure Oakland
Oakland residents fear AI-fueled gentrification
The new tech boom that's driving up rents in San Francisco could have rippling impacts on East Bay communities.
Does Highway Removal Make Cities Healthier?
Highway removal can improve the air quality and health of the immediate environment, but displacement and gentrification threaten to exclude former residents from the benefits.
As Housing Units Multiply, Local Businesses Struggle to Hang On in Downtown Oakland
The city of Oakland, across the bay from San Francisco, is the rare California city quickly adding housing units to the urban core. Local businesses are struggling to hang on as construction changes the fabric of the neighborhood.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Amtrak, CN end decades-long dispute with eight-year agreement
The new operating agreement establishes an updated framework for the companies to work together, including processes to resolve disputes.
Judges permit Denver to divert 77,000 acre feet from the Colorado River for reservoir expansion
Overuse and climate change have caused the Colorado River’s water levels to plummet.
Boston has spent millions making the Green Line more accessible — and there’s no end in sight
While the city has invested millions into expanding and adding platforms to the Green Line to make it more accessible, new train cars set to arrive next year will be too tall for disabled passengers to board without raising the current platforms.
Idaho may see an 18% drop in federal surface transit funding — the largest estimated cut in the US
Transit systems in rural communities are much more reliant on federal funding to provide their services.
How ‘post-disaster gentrification’ alters neighborhoods after natural calamities
After hurricanes, fires or other calamities, the original residents of a community are often replaced by younger, wealthier residents.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
KFH Group Inc.
Greater Baltimore Committee
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello