Spiraling Rents Squeeze the Nation’s Working Poor

BLANK Oct 23, 2013 Increasing rents and stagnating or decreasing household income have pushed more families into homelessness, even as overall homeless rates have declined. At the same time, the number of families paying more than half of their income for housing has increased 5.5 percent to 6.5 million. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

The Landscape of Wall Street’s Creative Destruction

By Laura Gottesdiener, TomDispatch Aug 2, 2013 It’s May 2012 and we’re in Woodlawn, a largely African American neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago. The goal of the HIT Squad, short for Housing Identification and Target, is to map blighted, bank-owned homes with overdue property taxes and neighbors angry enough about the destruction of their neighborhood to consider supporting a plan to repossess on the repossessors. Dig deeper ( 15 Min. Read )

Detroit’s Pensions Under Attack

Staff / Truthdig Jul 22, 2013 The bankrupt city is looking to cut its already underfunded retirement benefits; given the current economic climate, perhaps it's time for the affordable housing options that were used in the last century to make a comeback; meanwhile, Pope Francis' new banker, hired to clean up the Vatican's messy accounts, comes with sex scandals of his own. These discoveries and more after the jump. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

The Big Economic Stall

Robert Reich / Truthdig Apr 7, 2013 Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of all this is that we’re in the fifth year of a supposed economic recovery from the second-worst economic downturn of the past century, and we’re still not nearly back on track. Instead, we’ve had the most anemic recovery in history. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Are Single People Getting Financially Screwed?

Tracy Bloom / Truthdig Jan 16, 2013 According to Lisa Arnold and Christina Campbell, singles can pay as much as $1 million more over a lifetime than those who are married, simply because of their marital status. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Homeownership Support Shouldn’t Be a Mansion Subsidy

David Sirota / Truthdig Dec 14, 2012 With Congress finally starting to have a serious conversation about our revenue crisis, there are obvious reasons to limit the amount of mortgage interest that Americans can deduct from their taxable income. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

America’s Middle-Class Neighborhoods on the Decline

Staff / Truthdig Nov 17, 2011 As America's middle class continues to diminish, it follows that the middle-class neighborhoods they once called home would shrink accordingly. Well, they are, finds a new Stanford University study, which charted changes in Americans' living quarters since 1970. The results are sobering, if unsurprising. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Mortgage Rates Reach Record Low

Staff / Truthdig Sep 29, 2011 U.S. mortgage rates on 30-year fixed loans have fallen to a record low after the Federal Reserve last week announced its plan to reduce borrowing costs by replacing short-term debt with more long-term debt. (more) Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Israel Refuses to Halt Settlement Construction

Staff / Truthdig Sep 28, 2011 Israel decided to move ahead with settlement construction Tuesday, giving the go-ahead for the building of 1,100 housing units in east Jerusalem, even after Palestinians claimed the area as their future capital in their application for U.N. membership last week. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Israel OKs Major Housing Development With More to Come

Staff / Truthdig Aug 11, 2011 Israel's Interior Ministry has approved a 1,600-unit housing complex in East Jerusalem. It's the same complex that was announced last year, embarrassing a visiting Vice President Joe Biden, and it comes with the promise to build an additional 2,700 units of housing in the occupied Palestinian area of the city. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Americans Could Learn From Israel’s Tent City

Staff / Truthdig Aug 8, 2011 Economic frustrations, particularly the high cost of rent, have breathed new life into the Israeli left. Residents of a tent city in Tel Aviv, constructed to protest financial woes, put Israel's conservative prime minister on the defense, forcing him to announce a committee Sunday to look into reforms. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Plummeting Prices Deepen Crisis in U.S. Housing Market

Staff / Truthdig May 31, 2011 According to at least some sources, certain sectors of the American economy are showing signs of life, but the housing market sure isn't one of them, especially considering the news expected to surface Tuesday that prices have now dipped below the previous lowest point recorded since this recession kicked in three years ago. The recession's earlier bottom for housing prices occurred in 2009. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )