It would seem that New Orleans will never be returned to what it was pre-Katrina.

“What do you do when you live in a nice house and all around you it’s a ghost town?” asked Johnson. “Kids used to run up and down this street,” he said, as we passed an empty field that was a school before Katrina. “No more children, no more school, they’re all gone. We are waiting for them to come back, we’re hoping and praying that they will come. We are hoping and praying that all our friends come back.”

Six years after the storm and only twenty percent of the lower ninth ward is re-inhabited. You can consider New Orleans to be the first city decimated by the coming climate crisis. Its former residents the first climate refugees. Other cities that are susceptible to flooding will most likely be abandoned and not rebuilt as well.

Affordable housing is such a great thing to hear about.

16 hardworking, low-income families celebrated their new Habitat for Humanity – New York City homes in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, today, receiving symbolic keys to their affordable condominiums.

“No one should be without a safe, stable place to call home, and today we unveil a plan that will put our nation on the path toward ending all types of homelessness,” HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, who heads the 19-agency council, said in a statement.

via Administration broadens effort to fight homelessness.

It begins with have a stable and permanent housing situation. From there one can begin to look for employment.

This Housing First philosophy has been embraced in the District and elsewhere. In D.C., it has helped place about 1,000 people in homes, said Linda Kaufman, chief operating officer of Pathways to Housing, which works with several hundred mentally ill, chronically homeless people. “If you don’t do housing, you can’t address the issues of homelessness,” she said.

There have been over 1 million foreclosure filings so far in 2010 of the 6 million families that are behind on their payments and facing foreclosures, yet the number of modifications in the most recent government report is still only a little over 300000 modifications of one sort or another, trial or permanent.  Maybe that means that 5% of the families facing losing their homes have gotten some kind of help during the life of the program, but I’m being kind about the numbers since one figure is current and the other is cumulative.  It hardly mattes since this is a program more well know in the words of one of the inspector generals for “press releases” than modifications.

via Foreclosures Yes, Modifications No « Wade Rathke: Chief Organizer Blog.

Again the numerous government bailouts analogies may be getting too cliche, but you mean to tell me that you can’t modify any of these loans?

Large chunks of neighbourhoods would be razed and converted to parks, urban farms or simply abandoned. As an opening bid, Mr Bing has vowed to demolish 3,000 homes this year, and a further 7,000 over the following three years. Some are speculating that up to 40,000 homes could eventually go.

The plans are being watched by influential figures who believe other cities – including Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Memphis – could follow suit. The Obama administration is being advised by Dan Kildee, who pioneered the policy in Flint in his role as treasurer of Genesee County.

via Detroit to Bulldoze Thousands of Homes in Fight for Survival | CommonDreams.org.

I can’t help but be reminded of the stories during The Great Depression when they were burning surplus crops. Even now the market fails the people of Detroit, displaced, homeless and &c.

It would seem that conservationists are snapping up land like crazy.

The victories reveal a green lining of sorts in a credit crisis that has depressed real estate prices, spawned foreclosures and derailed development projects across the nation.

The purchases by conservationists and state and local governments assure that thousands of acres will be put aside in perpetuity for parks, watershed protection or simply preservation of open space.

To protect neighboring property values and prevent health hazards that surround an unkempt, foreclosed home, the bill S66007 would require lending institutions to maintain the property so that it remains in a safe and habitable condition. To protect the tenant, the lending institution that acquires the foreclosed property must notify the tenant at least 90 days before taking legal action. The bill also mandates lending institutions allow tenants to stay in their homes for the remainder of the lease or 90 days after notification, depending on which amount of time is greater.

via SENATE AND ASSEMBLY PASS LANDMARK FORECLOSURE BILL | New York State Senate.

At the federal level they focus on bailing out financial institutions and not homeowners. The result is more despair across the nation. At least in New York State constituents can say that two state senators (Jeff Klein & Liz Kruger) and all those that voted for this bill are looking out for them and not just the banks. It’s fine to help enterprise when needed but you cannot leave the people hanging out to dry.

The race matter reached its peak of controversy late last month when Spano, at a League of Women Voters of Westchester debate, said he thought much of the opposition to the housing settlement — what he dubbed as code words like economics, zoning and home rule — were really covers for racism.

Astorino jumped all over that and demanded an apology; none was forthcoming.

via Astorino ousts Spano in Westchester County Executive race | LoHud.com | The Journal News.

So what is the reason for the opposition to affordable housing initiatives in general? I’ve seen this opposition in Westchester for the longest but I’ve also been aware of it in places like Montgomery County, MD. I don’t think the outgoing County Executive is that far off the mark. I think a lot of it has to do with class more than race however. People are scared of what they don’t know about which is sad but the reality.

The second night, she stayed with a friend, and so it continued for more than a year: Ms. West — mother of three grown children, grandmother to six and great-grandmother to one — passed months on the couches of friends and relatives, and in the front seat of her car.

via Victims of Foreclosure Check In to Shelters – NYTimes.com.

How great is America? We’re so great that we’ll foreclose on great grandmothers, let them live out of their car and sleep on friend’s couches.

For your own sake and for the sake of that city I implore you to take this information to heart.

New York City’s neighborhoods are pockmarked with stalled residential developments. But the pause in construction will most likely be a temporary one. People are still moving to New York–despite the recession–and hundreds of thousands of new housing units will need to be built before supply catches up with demand. The city estimates that we need 265,000 new units by 2030 just to keep up with population growth.

But neighborhood opposition to new development could stall future development in New York City more than the credit crisis. Community members have seen the effects of new luxury development in their neighborhoods: rising rents, gentrification, and displacement. Based on their experience, residents understandably resist rezonings and new condo towers. City Hall must understand that without concrete community benefits, an attempts to increase the pace or scale of new development will be blocked.

This could go for development anywhere in the world actually. Developers are obsessed with building luxury housing above all else. Any new building I see in Northern Virginia & DC is not just your regular apartment buildings they are “luxury apartments.” This simply will not do and if you don’t change your ways then you will most certainly get more push back and obstacles thrown in your way.