Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Barbara Samuels

Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 12h

Appears the Trump admin’s reduction in force has hit housing hard this evening.

Reports that all CDFI fund staff have been let go. HUD appears to have lost 442 staff.

Yet another federal cut that will make providing affordable housing in the US all the more challenging.

Reports that all staff of CDFI Fund have been let go

4 99 170

Barbara Samuels @bsamuels72.bsky.social · 47m

Orioles traded this guy to Seattle. Could have used him in the bullpen this year.

1

Barbara Samuels @bsamuels72.bsky.social · 1h

We know Trump doesn’t read. So he only knows what a few handlers (principally Stephen Miller) want him to know & think, almost certainly in the form of highly doctored video clips. And we can see Miller is a strange & bitter man, who seems to be getting angrier & more controlling by the day.

Barbara Samuels @bsamuels72.bsky.social · 16h

Can people who voted for Trump for a third time, knowing full well of his intent to impose tariffs (who experienced them in his first term) really be described as as collateral damage? Seem more like lemmings choosing to go over the cliff.

Barbara Samuels @bsamuels72.bsky.social · 16h

For those too young to remember Agnew, he was prosecuted for taking bribes as Baltimore Co Exec. The landed gentry in “the Valleys”got Agnew to support their plan to reserve 2/3 of the County for the well-to-do. Known as the Urban Rural Demarcation Line, the URDL boundaries are unchanged since 1969.

1

Barbara Samuels @bsamuels72.bsky.social · 1d

Not really. Jays are big market big spenders more like Yankees & Dodgers. Brewers & Rays do a lot w/ far less payroll. Orioles to trying to emulate, but front office has yet to get it right.

2

Reposted by Barbara Samuels

Fair Share Housing Center @fairsharehousing.bsky.social · 1d

Building upon the Mt. Laurel Doctrine, responses from recent poll show NJ Voters support comprehensive housing reform #morehousingoptions #zoningreform #greathomesforallNJ

1 1 2

Barbara Samuels @bsamuels72.bsky.social · 2d

See all those white dots? Those are big houses on 2 acre lots & septic in a “desirable” suburban type n-hood of Owings Mills. OM was designated by Baltimore Co as a “Growth Area” circa 1980 w/ huge public $ spent on Metro & I-795. So why is this eastern side of OM still outside the URDL & w/o sewer?

1

Reposted by Barbara Samuels

Dan Immergluck @danimmergluck.bsky.social · 2d

Ummm. not ok. Mark is the historian of fascism and Rutgers faculty member whose life was threatened by right wing actors.

Mark Bray @mark-bray.bsky.social · 2d

“Someone” cancelled my family’s flight out of the country at the last second.

We got our boarding passes. We checked our bags. Went through security. Then at our gate our reservation ‘disappeared.’

2 13

Barbara Samuels @bsamuels72.bsky.social · 2d

The developer of Greenleigh has offered to build a Baltimore Co public library there. Greenleigh was built w/ big public subsidies but no affordable housing. A new library w/ mixed income apartments above it sounds like a cost-effective win-win.

Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 2d

Cities are developing a new approach to developing housing: Integrating it into mixed-use library projects. These investments improve neighborhood vitality, add housing & improve services.

In new research @urbaninstitute.bsky.social, I create a database of such projects & point to success stories ⏬

Aging Libraries Could Offer Cities a Unique Opportunity to Build New Housing While Improving Public Services

Since 2000, more than 1,800 apartment units have been built in combined library-housing developments. These projects not only address local housing needs but…

www.urban.org

2

Reposted by Barbara Samuels

Eli Kahn 🏳️‍🌈 @elikahn.bsky.social · 3d

honestly, Democrats acknowledging a housing supply shortage is old hat at this point; they almost all do. the challenge is getting them to say, and endorse in their laws, “there is a conflict between getting more housing built and other worthy aims, and right now more housing is more important”

1 1 10

Barbara Samuels @bsamuels72.bsky.social · 3d

How much is due to sources upstream in Baltimore Co? is Everyone living above the URDL just dumps their waste into backyard septic tanks. From from there it leaches into groundwater, the waterways and the reservoirs. After rains E Coli from septic has been found in the Gunpowder.

tanks.to

1

Reposted by Barbara Samuels

Cyrus Hall @cyrushall.bsky.social · 3d

I am pretty convinced that the way we fund many things in the US is largely broken. Non-profits, affordable housing, transit projects, and numerous other social goods rely on deeply fragmented funding, where each funding source comes with its own strings. Funding is always on the edge.

2 7 47

Reposted by Barbara Samuels

baltimore is so back @mobtowndare.bsky.social · 4d

has me in my greatest city in america feels.

baltimorebeat.com/to-my-baltim...

To My Baltimore

A city I once resentedbecame the pinnacle of my truest desire. In my years of uncertainty,travesty,and blur—you, my Baltimore, saved the day. Over these past weeks,I’ve built communion in creative san...

baltimorebeat.com

2 2

Reposted by Barbara Samuels

taber @kvetch.gay · 7d

this is wild: while Stephen Miller's guy was in Minnesota for his uncle's funeral, somebody was able to see his entire phone and take pictures of his Signal group chats talking about military deployments to Portland, and brought them to the Strib (gift link: www.startribune.com/trump-offici...)

270 3.8K 8.2K

Barbara Samuels @bsamuels72.bsky.social · 3d

A key but overlooked aspect of the housing crisis—the lack of family friendly housing. The deliberate failure of most localities to meeting the need is not just a market rate issue—LIHTC also builds few 3BRs or is senior-only. Yet safe, stable housing in healthy n-hoods is most critical for kids.

Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 3d

I wrote a real estate investor focused essay in Thesis Driven on the in-depth applications of the Institute for Family Studies paper I did with Lyman Stone

How family friendly" apartment projects can actually make sense financially ... and a few examples

www.thesisdriven.com/letters/can-...

Can Building "Family Friendly" Apartments Make Financial Sense?

A study of the importance - and feasibility - of family-friendly units

www.thesisdriven.com

1 1

Barbara Samuels @bsamuels72.bsky.social · 3d

So press the issue like you mean it, Dems! Hakeem Jeffries should conduct a swearing in ceremony and she should show up to claim het seat when Congress goes into session. Dare Johnson to bar her from entering the chamber and voting to represent her constituents.

Reposted by Barbara Samuels

Jayne Miller @jemillerbalt.bsky.social · 4d

This is a good thread to show the big increase in health insurance premium without the tax credits.
Medicare for All would go a long way to mitigating these issues but it has struggled to gain enough support to move it along

MeidasTouch @meidastouch.com · 4d

Letting the health care tax credits expire would devastate American families — and we’re making that crystal clear by giving you the data.

We’ve built graphics showing how much costs would rise in every GOP district.

Let’s start with Mike Johnson (R-LA):

1 1 3

Barbara Samuels @bsamuels72.bsky.social · 4d

How did we decline so far & so fast from the Greatest Generation to the Me, me, me Generation?

1 1

Barbara Samuels @bsamuels72.bsky.social · 4d

Kill two birds w/ one stone: Greenleigh should get a library—& it should have affordable apartments built above it. This is being done in places all around the country. The cost savings are obvious. And Greenleigh shouldnt have gotten so much public subsidy & favors w/o any affordable housing.

Baltimore Banner @thebaltimorebanner.com · 7d

The book closes on plans for a Middle River Library

After months of negotiating with a prominent developer who was willing to build a library in Middle River, Baltimore County Executive Kathy Klausmeier ended the discussion.

buff.ly

Barbara Samuels @bsamuels72.bsky.social · 4d

What? You think affordable housing is free? Of course County development subsidies should trigger affordability requirements, & of course its appropriate for those subsidies to go toward defraying costs of affordable homes. And by all means make these provisions countywide going forward.

1

Barbara Samuels @bsamuels72.bsky.social · 5d

Given variety in markets nothing surprising about variation by state. But look at low incomes & affordability levels of voucher holders. Without these subsidies tens of millions of households <30% AMI are shut out of the standard rental market, even Class C. And we only fund enough for 1:4 eligible.

Hugh Millward @hmillward.bsky.social · 5d

Correlates to housing costs www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-where...

Mapped: Where Rent Subsidies Are Highest, by U.S. State

Discover where rent subsidies are highest and lowest across America and why federal aid differs so widely for low-income renters.

www.visualcapitalist.com

1

Reposted by Barbara Samuels

Newsweek @newsweek.com · 5d

The FHFA is proposing a change that would weaken Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s affordable housing goals, consumer advocates warn.

Trump Plan Could Make It Harder for First-Time Homebuyers To Get Mortgages

www.newsweek.com

3 7 12

Reposted by Barbara Samuels

M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 5d

Explicit racism/classism has fallen out of fashion, but many of the arguments against apartments made by early zoners remain familiar, e.g. disparaging remarks about developers getting rich building them—as if "provide valued good/service, get paid" isn't the entire premise of a market economy.

Neil Flanagan 🧱🗃️ @jgbollard.bsky.social · 5d

Basically all professional journals treat multifamily dwellings as a selfish convenience with serious social costs in the 1920s. They always are opposed to the purportedly universal necessity of detached houses—which they always conflate with ownership and eusocial behavior.

Are Apartments Necessary?

An Important Test as to the Legality of Zoning Regulations. Judge Kramer Rules Against Establishment of Apartment Houses in Resident Sections

5 17 140

Reposted by Barbara Samuels

Shelterforce @shelterforce.bsky.social · 5d

Too many 'housing investors' aren't investing at all. They're betting on your neighborhood getting more expensive - without lifting a finger to improve it. Here's why that distinction matters for housing policy. bit.ly/4jWs6cP

1 2