By Kevin Clang

March 14, 2013

Throughout the week, the BPC Housing Commission highlights news items that address critical developments in housing policy. Any views expressed in the content posted on this forum do not necessarily represent the views of the Commission, its co-chairs or the Bipartisan Policy Center.

What We're Reading posts include a compilation of useful links in the Housing Visualized section below. These resources offer the latest economic indicators, expert insight, and statistical trends related to the U.S. housing market.

Housing Visualized

2010 Census l Mapping the Census l Comparing Recessions and Recoveries
Infographic: Rental Housing Market Trends l Housing by the Numbers
Infographic: Household Formation Gap l Who Gains Most From Tax Breaks
Infographic: Housing's Economic Impact l Measuring Economic Mobility
Past Commissions and Reports l Trulia’s Housing Barometer
Credit Conditions l U.S. Housing Summary l Mortgage Data
Changes in Home Prices l Wells Fargo Monthly Economic Outlook
WF Real Estate & Housing Reports l Prices and Inventory by Metro Area

Mixed-Use Neighborhoods May Be Safer, Too
By Emily Badger
The Atlantic

"Neighborhoods with a mix of residences, offices and retail outlets are now conventionally thought to have a host of benefits, a departure in thinking from the years of urban planning when cities sought to segregate uses of land, with the houses in one corner of town and the shopping district in another. Mixed-use neighborhoods enable people to walk more, with downstream health benefits. They help cut down on traffic congestion, and therefore pollution. For many people, they create livelier communities and a higher quality of life." Read more here.

By Michael Stubel

January 7, 2013

Throughout the week, the BPC Housing Commission highlights news items that address critical developments in housing policy. Any views expressed in the content posted on this forum do not necessarily represent the views of the Commission, its co-chairs or the Bipartisan Policy Center.

What We're Reading posts now include a compilation of useful links in the Housing Visualized section below. These resources offer the latest economic indicators, expert insight, and statistical trends related to the U.S. housing market.

Housing Visualized

2010 Census l Mapping the Census l Comparing Recessions and Recoveries
Infographic: Rental Housing Market Trends l Housing by the Numbers
Infographic: Household Formation Gap l Who Gains Most From Tax Breaks
Infographic: Housing's Economic Impact l Measuring Economic Mobility
Past Commissions and Reports l Trulia’s Housing Barometer
Credit Conditions l U.S. Housing Summary l Mortgage Data
Changes in Home Prices l Wells Fargo Monthly Economic Outlook
WF Real Estate & Housing Reports l Prices and Inventory by Metro Area

National foreclosure inventory falls 18% from last year
By Kerri Ann Panchuk
HousingWire

"The U.S. continues to watch its foreclosure inventory slowly evaporate as fewer homes make it through the foreclosure process. The country had approximately 1.2 million homes, or 3% of all properties with a mortgage, in its national foreclosure inventory in November, a sharp 18% drop from a year ago, CoreLogic said." Read more here.

By Michelle Whetten

December 11, 2012

What have we learned from past disaster recovery efforts that could be applied in the way of housing assistance following Hurricane Sandy?

View the full forum here.

As communities in New York and New Jersey come to grips with the scale of the damage from Superstorm Sandy, it is important that response, recovery and rebuilding efforts build off of the lessons learned and best practices gleaned from response to previous disasters. Soon after Hurricane Katrina, Enterprise was in the Gulf Coast to assist with recovery. Seven years later, we continue to work in the region, having invested over $200 million to date towards rebuilding nearly 7,500 affordable homes in stronger, more resilient communities. We've learned many lessons along the way, and are applying them to our work in helping Sandy-impacted communities to rebuild.

By Mark Calabria

December 11, 2012

What have we learned from past disaster recovery efforts that could be applied in the way of housing assistance following Hurricane Sandy?

View the full forum here.

My seven years as staff on the Senate Banking Committee was largely spent trying to avert one financial disaster or another. In the middle of those impending financial disasters was at least one natural disaster: Hurricane Katrina. I was tasked with leading the staff efforts on the Republican side of the Committee. Working for Alabama’s senior senator added the urgency of constituent concerns. What follows are some of my reflections from that experience.

Lesson One: have a plan ahead of time and stick to it. While of course there was a framework for disaster assistance before Katrina, as spelled out under the Stafford Act, both the scale of the disaster and heated politics made the existing framework somewhat irrelevant. Instead everyone had a plan. Most of them half-baked. The result was the path of least resistance in Washington: a large blank check.