Barbara Samuels
@bsamuels72.bsky.social
320 followers 240 following 1.2K posts
Unleashed, not retired. Fair Housing & Affordable Housing attorney. Orioles, Ravens true believer. WV mountains, Cape waters, but Baltimore is still home. Repost is not endorsement etc
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Reposted by Barbara Samuels
danimmergluck.bsky.social
Ummm. not ok. Mark is the historian of fascism and Rutgers faculty member whose life was threatened by right wing actors.
mark-bray.bsky.social
“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.’
bsamuels72.bsky.social
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.
yonahfreemark.com
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
Reposted by Barbara Samuels
elikahn.bsky.social
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”
bsamuels72.bsky.social
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
Reposted by Barbara Samuels
cyrushall.bsky.social
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.
Reposted by Barbara Samuels
kvetch.gay
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...)
bsamuels72.bsky.social
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.
bobbyfijan.bsky.social
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
bsamuels72.bsky.social
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
jemillerbalt.bsky.social
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.com
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):
bsamuels72.bsky.social
How did we decline so far & so fast from the Greatest Generation to the Me, me, me Generation?
bsamuels72.bsky.social
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.
bsamuels72.bsky.social
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.
bsamuels72.bsky.social
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.
Reposted by Barbara Samuels
newsweek.com
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
Reposted by Barbara Samuels
mnolangray.bsky.social
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.
jgbollard.bsky.social
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
Reposted by Barbara Samuels
shelterforce.bsky.social
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
Reposted by Barbara Samuels
bgrueskin.bsky.social
If a federal judge, appointed by Trump, can call him “simply untethered to facts,” our White House press corps can as well.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
In sum, the President is certainly entitled "a great level of deference," Newsom II, 141
F.4th at 1048, in his determination that he "is unable with the regular forces to execute the laws
of the United States." 10 U.S.C. § 12406(3). But "a great level of deference" is not equivalent to
ignoring the facts on the ground. As the Ninth Circuit articulated, courts must "review the
President's determination to ensure that it reflects a colorable assessment of the facts and law
PAGE 22 - OPINION AND ORDER
Case 3:25-cv-01756-IM Document 56
Filed 10/04/25
Page 23 of 31
within a 'range of honest judgment.'" Id. at 1051 (quoting Sterling, 278 U.S. at 399). Here, this
Court concludes that the President did not have a "colorable basis" to invoke § 12406(3) to
federalize the National Guard because the situation on the ground belied an inability of federal
law enforcement officers to execute federal law. Id. at 1051-52. The President's determination
was simply untethered to the facts.
c. Whether there is a Rebellion or Danger of Rebellion
Defendants also aroue that the Sentember 28 2025 federalization order is authorized
bsamuels72.bsky.social
Like the way you think!
godofindifference.bsky.social
Democratic candidate Katie Brennan urges New Jersey to fight back against Trump’s funding freezes by withholding federal taxes and seizing his Bedminster golf course for affordable housing.
Trump took Gateway money, we must take his golf club
Take it from someone who’s spent years as a survivor advocate, working with people hurt by those in power: You do not negotiate with abusers.
www.nydailynews.com
Reposted by Barbara Samuels
sininsanity.bsky.social
Memo from National Housing Law Project Staff:
Rights of Federally Assisted Residents during #Government #Shutdown

"overview of the impact of the federal government shutdown on tenants in the largest federally assisted housing programs"
#HUD #HAP #HCV #RAD #housing

www.nhlp.org/wp-content/u...
First page of the PDF memo document linked in the post.
Reposted by Barbara Samuels
princetonyimby.bsky.social
NIMBY towns determined to appeal after losing major challenge against New Jersey's affordable housing laws.
I don't rate their chances. The judge who threw out their case is Robert Lougy, a Chris Christie appointee, who is known himself as a bit of a NIMBY. www.nj.com/politics/202...
Affordable housing challenge by 27 N.J. towns rejected by judge
This new ruling means 27 N.J. towns must move forward with affordable housing plans.
www.nj.com
bsamuels72.bsky.social
The right wing capture of SCOTUS made this possible. The GOP appointees have been playing along w/ the Federalist society plan to redefine accepted legal practices as unconstitutional. Unlike 1930’s Germany, our institutions & businesses must refuse to go along to get along.
jemillerbalt.bsky.social
How is DEI unconstitutional?
Because it aimed to open opportunity for women and minorities who'd been shut out for a very long time?
It's just code for Trump wanting to put them back in that place
annabower.bsky.social
"unconstitutional DEI principles"
"unconstitutional DEI principles"
"unconstitutional DEI principles"
"unconstitutional DEI principles"
"unconstitutional DEI principles"
"unconstitutional DEI principles"

UNCONSTITUTIONAL DEI PRINCIPLES????
bsamuels72.bsky.social
Trump is not trying to speak to the American people about his intentions, much less world leaders. He is speaking to the radical segments of his base in language that they understand all too well. Pay attention to Stephen Miller —he is the one delivering the fascist messaging more directly.