Tag: housing
Obama, states announce massive settlement with banks over foreclosure process
Economists have identified the housing crisis as one of the biggest drags on the current economic recovery. On Thursday, state and federal officials announced a settlement with the mortgage industry that will provide cash to underwater homeowners and those who lost their homes, but there's debate on whether it will jumpstart the economy....
Some Russians long for the communal housing of the kommunalka
After the Bolshevik Revolution, communist leaders in Russia solved the urban housing crisis by seizing the luxury apartments of the rich and turning them into communal housing projects, the kommunalka. Each family got a room and then all the families, three, four, five of them, shared the kitchen and bathrooms. Some older Russians miss those times....
Occupy Wall Street protesters take to vacant, foreclosed homes
As the Occupy Wall Street protests dwindle, beset by winter weather and police actions, they're trying a different tack, one that they hope will help reduce homelessness and help some people keep their homes from being foreclosed upon....
Racial migration, desegregation underway in America
New data from the 2010 U.S. Census shows that America's Blacks are leaving the cities in northern areas and moving back to the Sun Belt, often to cities their parents and grandparents fled decades ago. Plus, more minorities are moving into suburbs, desegregating historically white areas....
Massachusetts files lawsuit against 5 of nation's largest mortgage lenders
Attorney General Martha Coakley accuses Bank of America, JP-Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and GMAC Mortgage of unfair and deceptive business practices related to the foreclosure process....
Venezuela's housing shortage puts pressure on Chavez
Venezuela has a shortage of affordable homes so acute that squatters have moved into half-built high rises in Caracas. ...
Child poverty up 18 percent across the US
According to a study by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, 31 million children in the US now live in low-income families....
S&P investigated for mortgage securities ratings
Standard & Poor's under investigation for allegedly improperly rating dozens of mortgage securities leading up to the financial crisis....
Boosting house prices to fix economy
Columbia Business School professor says raising the cost of an average home may be a way to fix the economy....
Continuing housing crisis: Ghost suburbs and empty real estate
Some 1.5 million homes are sitting vacant in the United States, shaking confidence and changing the landscape throughout the country....
