Ear to the Ground

Will California Make Housing a Human Right?

Staff / Truthdig May 4, 2023 A new bill would inscribe a “right to housing” in the Golden State’s constitution. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

TD Original

Eviction on the Installment Plan

Daniel Elkind / Truthdig Feb 27, 2023 Across the country, people and families priced out of the real estate market are turning to temporary housing built to shelter traveling workers. Dig deeper ( 10 Min. Read )

Business & Economy

Rent Going Up? One Company’s Algorithm Could Be Why

Heather Vogell / ProPublica Nov 3, 2022 Texas-based RealPage’s YieldStar software helps landlords set prices for apartments across the U.S. With rents soaring, critics are concerned that the company’s proprietary algorithm is hurting competition. Dig deeper ( 21 Min. Read )

Twitter, Visa and Lyft Spend Against San Francisco Homelessness Measure

Naomi LaChance / Truthdig Nov 5, 2018 Some San Francisco companies donated thousands to oppose a tax hike on wealthy businesses to help fund affordable housing and mental health services. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Obama Policies Destroyed the Black Middle Class

Staff / Truthdig and Larry Gross Dec 10, 2017 The former president's approach to housing disproportionately affected African-Americans; meanwhile, a social scientist says Trump is a unique type of liar. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Profiting Off Pain: Trump Confidant Cashed In on the Housing Crisis

By Aaron Glantz / Reveal Jul 8, 2017 One of the president’s closest friends, Southern California billionaire Thomas J. Barrack (pictured), bought up homes during the Great Recession, bumped up rents and allowed the properties to fall into disrepair. Dig deeper ( 15 Min. Read )

Neoliberalism’s Zero Hour in the Heartland

By Alan Minsky Feb 1, 2016 Will Monday's caucus in Iowa open the door wider to the political insurgents and leave the traditionalists gulping Xanax? Or will it expose Big Change as just a brief burst of lightning? Dig deeper ( 11 Min. Read )

To Rebuild Baltimore, First Clear the Blight

Eugene Robinson / Truthdig May 2, 2015 There has been much talk about the maladies that afflict Baltimore. One of the most visible should also be one of the most straightforward to address: its enormous stock of derelict, abandoned housing. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

The Continuing Depopulation of Detroit

By Laura Gottesdiener, TomDispatch Apr 20, 2015 The city that was the arsenal of the 20th century may also provide the blueprint for a more precarious era: 100,000 of its residents are on what many call an eviction “conveyor belt.” Dig deeper ( 13 Min. Read )

New Study Shows Why It Makes Absolutely No Sense to Blame the Poor for the Financial Crisis

Natasha Hakimi Zapata / Truthdig Jan 28, 2015 Despite efforts to blame the housing crisis on lower-income buyers, the truth is that the rich had a greater impact on the economy by defaulting on significantly larger mortgages. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

California Trial Places Mortgage Blame on Bankers

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Sep 8, 2014 In an "unprecedented" trial that challenges the Obama administration's official position on who was responsible for the 2008 financial meltdown, a Sacramento jury in late August thwarted a federal prosecutor's effort to charge borrowers with mortgage fraud after the defense successfully argued that executives who signed off on the loans didn't care whether answers given on mortgage applications were accurate. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Big Banks Hit With Monster $250 Billion Lawsuit in Housing Crisis

By Ellen Brown, Web of Debt Jul 17, 2014 In June, investors led by the world’s largest asset manager and the world’s largest bond-fund manager sued some of the world’s largest banks for breach of fiduciary duty as trustees of their investment funds. The investors are seeking damages for the equivalent of 1 million homeowners with $250,000 in damages suing at one time. Dig deeper ( 6 Min. Read )