Bio-molecular and Poly-crystalline Organisms in Construction Structures
2009-10-31 04:55:00 Prof Dr Norbert Pintsch (M.CE., M.Arch., MBA), Lahore The term Housing 1) was discussed in some of our recent articles and we referred there to the Cultural Model 2), in which the human effort is actively promoted, -the traditional one as well as the so called traditional one. Although it was not possible to completely avoid the conflict between religion and science, still we were able to describe in one go a new cultural formula 3). The Inter-dependencies 4) between the individual areas can be epoch-making, for example currently the economy. Is an individual area so important, it can be compared with a cold star in the astronomical terminology. In our example this would mean that the economy does continue to play its role but not in its current ly known form. The history of science amply proves that followers of a certain surviving form or method cannot be easily convinced through arguments. As the Nobel-prize winning scientist Max-Planck once said, the next generations will...
By: Light Within
Chicago's public housing through international eyes
2009-10-29 18:30:00 Raquel Rolnik talks to Sean Johnson, a resident of Altgeld Gardens, about his housing problemsI imagined she would be austere and solemn. Sort of like the White Witch of Narnia, only not evil and speaking several languages. Turns out that Raquel Rolnik, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, is anything but reserved. It's not often you meet a Brazilian housing policy expert who empathizes with a black man from Chicago's public housing, but that's just what Rolnik is like. On her three day visit to Chicago, she's taken to the streets, trying to meet people and hear their stories directly. Her tour of Chicago's public housing started at the city's most famous development - Cabrini-Green....
Is housing affordable in Chicago? UN representative to find out
2009-10-27 15:00:00 We all know it isn't easy to find an affordable place to live in Chicago. The Chicago Rehab Network says that to afford a modest one-bedroom apartment at $711 a month, a person would either have to earn at least $13.67 an hour or work 106 hours a week at the minimum wage. But is housing so unaffordable that it violates human rights? The United Nations is here in Chicago to find out. For the first time ever, the UN Special Rapporteur on housing will visit the United States with six stops in major cities, including Chicago. Raquel Rolnik will start her visit by meeting with regular Chicago citizens at a town hall meeting at Fernwood United Methodist Church at...
10,000 coats for Chicago's public housing kids
2009-10-21 19:40:00 Photo courtesy Operation WarmThis weekend, the Chicago Housing Authority and national nonprofit Operation Warm will give out 10,000 coats to public housing kids across the city. Any public housing resident with a child born after January 1st, 1995 is eligible to receive one new coat per child. To reserve a coat for your child, you can sign up on the CHA youth website or by calling the hotline at (312) 786-3621. "Kids grow fast and are often in need of a new coat every single year," says Kristen Hamer, director of community relations at CHA. "It's an expense our families don't have to incur this year if they take advantage of this initiative."Of the 10,000 coats available, about 7,000 are...
One strike and you're out: public housing residents and the one-strike
2009-10-20 23:15:00 Eugene Bailey leaves Cook County jail after his release Monday. Photo by Jason Wambsgans of the Tribune. There's been a lot of talk today over Eugene Bailey, a Roseland teen charged and later exonerated in the beating and death of Derrion Albert. Bailey and his mom, Ava Grayer, were served with an "intent to terminate" notice from the Chicago Housing Authority, letting them know that Chicago Housing Authority was planning to evict them from their Section 8 apartment over the charges. Many people were outraged. A family evicted just for someone being charged? What about due process? And why should the mother be evicted for her son's behavior?...
8 Things that helped us turn our personal housing crisis into an opportunit
2009-10-12 18:24:00 Today I have a guest post over at Magpie Girl - Rachelle Mee-Chapman's wonderful blog. I was so honored that she asked me to write something because - as I said when I wrote about her no clothes challenge- I'm a fan of her blog and writing. She asked me to write something "value-added" about what we'd learned from living on less or how to talk to friends when you fall into hard times. It got me thinking... a lot. Which led to 8 Things that helped us turn our personal housing crisis into an opportunity. It's all in the post 8Ways to Turn a Financial Crisis into Opportunity over at Magpie Girl. I hope you enjoy....
What went wrong with Chicago's public housing?
2009-10-06 16:25:00 The "tot lot" in 60s Park ForestIn the quintessential baby boom town of Park Forest, Illinois, there was almost one child for every adult in the early 1960s. The ratio was high - nearly twice that of most places. Chicago's Robert Taylor Homes were built in the early 60s. What was there child to adult ratio?2.86 There were almost three children for every one adult. Remember your elementary classroom on the day the substitute was in charge? Take that disorder and multiply it. Robert Taylor had almost 27,000 residents at its peak. Then add 16 story high-rise buildings with not enough elevators, shoddy construction and not enough playgrounds....
Number of families waiting for housing around the nation increasing - Monda
2009-09-21 16:50:00 Philadelphia is reporting more than 47,000 people on its waiting list for public housing. Oakland, California opened its waiting list for five days and received more than 93,000 applications. They have only 10,000 openings. Chicago's own waiting list is more than 40,000 and is closed until further notice. Also like Chicago, two more New York City housing developments will be getting surveillance cameras. Over cries that the recession is finally finished comes this somber prediction, saying that it'll take 10 years to return to what housing prices were in the boom market. My question is this: for the longest time, we called those prices "the bubble," implying that they were fake and unfounded, and crying when "the bubble" burst. So...
Will Appraisers Stunt the Housing Recovery?
2009-09-20 18:07:00 After the financial meltdown last year lawmakers and regulators were determined to discover who was responsible for the debacle. Yes, the very people who drafted the laws governing mortgages and yes were also responsible for oversight of them went out to determine who was responsible for the melt down. The first culprit, of course, was the lenders. I think we all know how that played out. The next group on the chopping block was the appraisers. If they wouldn?t have appraised the homes then the lenders would not have lent on them, so goes the finger pointing. From that came sordid tales of realtors and mortgage professionals pressuring and even bribing appraisers to up the value of a property. Home Valuation Code of Conduct - HVCC After the scapegoats were identified the legislation followed. One prime piece of legislation aimed at appraisers was the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (PDF). The intent of the HVCC was to achieve more appraiser independence to reduce the amount ...
Housing Only Managing On Government Life Support
2009-09-18 14:24:00 For the most part, the consensus in the media seems to be that the housing market is showing some sort of tenuous "stabilization". -; When I Googled "housing market" this morning, here’s what the main headlines looked like: The problem is that if housing isn’t falling, it’s because the government is propping it up: Over the past year, the government has intervened heavily at essentially every stage of the home-buying process. In fact, more than 80% of the new residential mortgage loans made this year benefited from some form of government support, according to the trade publication Inside Mortgage Finance. To keep funds flowing to the housing market, the government bailed out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac last year and now effectively owns the mortgage finance giants and their combined $5.4 trillion in loans and guarantees. To keep mortgage rates low, the Federal Reserve is on track to purchase nearly $1.5 trillion in debt issued or guaranteed...
By: HousingDoom
How to use Postlets to Improve Your Craigslist Posts
2009-09-18 03:15:00 There are quite a few features that Postlets offers, some fee-based and some free. In this post I?m going to focus on the free features and show you how you can take your CraigsLists posts from this: To This: Postlets Tutorial for Craigslist In this tutorial postlets.com does most of the work for you. However, in relation to my previous post, I?ll also show you how you can create the illusion of an embeded YouTube property video. The procedure is as follows: Step 1:This Article is Copyright © 2004-2009 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved. How to use Postlets to Improve Your Craigslist Posts
5 Reasons for Caution in the Stock Market and Housing Casino. Public Priva
2009-09-17 07:21:00 It is official that the stock market has gone into full casino mode. Since the March low the S&P 500 has rallied to the tune of 60 percent. The only other time you will see such a fierce rally was during the Great Depression. Yet what people fail to see in the current system is ...
Housing affordability improves
2009-09-10 00:40:00 Until this recession housing prices where slowly and steadily creeping out of the territory of affordable for many first time buyers.The truest example of this was a "starter home" in Vancouver for $700,000. Of course location and other market comparables would set aside this property from the rest, it's still not in my idea of the starter home region. Vancouver's housing affordability is still an unbelievable 63%. That means 63% of income must be devoted to mortgage payments.Now we now why Vancouverites are so svelte - they can't afford food!Housing prices cooled and low interest rates brought back affordability but how long will it last? According to some experts not so long."The two major contributors to the significant improvement during the past year or so — the decline in mortgage rates and the drift down in prices — appear to have reached turning points." "Supply of properties for sale is dropping as demand bounces back, which is working to heat up prices again in many...
The Real Estate Mom: How I reinvented myself in the middle of a housing cri
2009-09-09 21:37:00 "There is nothing permanent except change."-Heralitus 500 BC Change is everywhere right now. We hear about change in political speeches, we see change in all the real estate foreclosure signs on the street, we read about job loss and change in the papers, even menopause is called "the change." People change jobs, they change locations, they change marriages, they change their minds, and the biggest change of all is the change from this life to the next. Change is defined as "a variation, alteration or substitution." Change is really one of the few constants we have, and I guess how we change is a measure of who we are. Three years ago this month my husband, Tom and I made a big...
Should public housing residents be drug tested?
2009-09-03 22:30:00 One of the towers of Lake Parc PlaceI had met Shirley Newsome a couple of times before she got up and spoke at the public comment hearing Tuesday evening. It wasn't a surprise to me that she was there.Shirley Newsome is the definition of being involved in her community, and the hearing allowed people to comment on a new plan for selecting residents at Lake Parc Place - two public housing towers right of the lake shore at Oakwood Boulevard. This new plan would require residents to pass a drug test in order to live there.Newsome is an extremely well put together woman who lives in North Kenwood-Oakland. She's on about every committee and in every organization she could be:...
Olympic Village would make for some interesting affordable housing
2009-09-02 15:03:00 As Chicagoans watch on edge over the course of the next month to see if our city is selected for the 2016 games, the plan for the Olympic Village on the south lake shore is creating an interesting prospect for affordable housing. Yesterday, I attended a luncheon where Chicago 2016's Cassandra Francis, who is charged with helping develop the Village, spoke. To give an idea of what it might look like, she showed this video: But the points Cassandra mae in her speech helped also explain the "legacy" mode of the project -According to a recent Crain's article, up to 30 percent of the Village's 2,500 units could become affordable housing . -While the Olympics are going on, the residential units...
Windy City Housing Porn: YoChicago vs. Rent or Buy
2009-08-27 22:08:00 New Depression or not, there always seems to be opportunity in Chicago's real estate market. Good times leave behind condo gluts. Bad times? Rental overkill. And two competing local blogs offer all the housing porn you could ever want to to help you make your next Windy City real estate decision. From floorplans to photo spreads to video walkthroughs, let's look at two hotly competitive real estate sites: Joe Zekas's YoChicago; and Maureen Wilkey's Rent or Buy? ChicagoNow blog....
The next ?leg down? for the housing market
2009-08-26 22:59:00 If you think the housing market is recovering, you are probably wrong. According to the NY Times: First American CoreLogic anticipates 600,000 option ARMS to reset within four years. Option ARMs, which lenders stopped offering last year, gave borrowers four payment options: less than the interest, which increases the balance every month; just the interest; the equivalent ...
By: National Bubble
Wednesday news round up: the church of public housing?
2009-08-26 16:10:00 Photo by Sarah Jane RheeGreensboro North Carolina is all a-twitter over the local housing authority is applying rules on religion. The Fair Housing Act prohibits organizations receiving HUD funds from "engaging in inherently religious activities."In Greensboro, officials have interpreted that to mean that residents can't use common areas for Bible study or a voluntary religious service. What do you think? Is it a violation of residents' freedoms? Or is it ensuring government-owned property isn't used to spread religion?U.S. housing, confidence data points to recovery - WaPo says we're shaking off this recession and housing numbers prove it.Looking to divide the pie more fairly - Philadelphia public schools are considering a measure close to my heart: changing the way we fund...
Revised Daly City Housing Ordinance
2009-08-25 19:37:00 As reported earlier in Daly City to Consider Home Resale Inspection Ordinance , Daly City?s Department of Economic and Community Development is proposing a Residential Resale Inspection Program for Daly City that targets the construction of illegal rooms and additions in residential structures. The proposal is contained in the city?s Draft Housing Element...
Prison: the new public housing? Thursday news round up
2009-08-13 16:00:00 Photo by Tim Pearce The Poverty in America blog at change.org riffs off of Barbara Ehrenreich's NYT op-ed. There's 2.3 million Americans living in public housing. There's 2.3 million Americans living behind bars. We know that many people who end up in prison come from rough neighborhoods. And there's no shortage of people who like to blame crime on public housing residents. So is it much of a leap to say prison is a form of public housing? Most of the young people I meet have a friend or relative in prison and many expect to spend at least a night or two there themselves. Maybe the real question is: who is better off?Public housing banning policy tears families apart -...
Housing Science and Appropriate Technology
2009-08-06 16:17:00 In Cooperation With:SPARC (Ghayyoor Obaid) & TTTC (Omar M. Ali), PakistanCAT (Njini King Caro), CameroonTM (Ricardo Coslez), Colombia IntroductionThis article again refers to ?housing?, the architectural, economical and philosophical aspects of which have already been discussed. In this article we will discuss the scientific and technological aspect (Architecture, Urban & Regional Planning) which however are not totally independent of other areas of the culture. As clear-cut diagrams and illustrations mean more than words for the engineer and scientist, the accompanying text may be considered a literary explanation of the important inter-relationship. A very simple text for the illustrations would probably not appropriately describe the total picture.Housing in Rural, Urban and Fully-Autonomous EntitiesIn the following we will discuss the very basic questions of "housing" and describe the range of possibilities between the Rural Entity and the Fully-Autonomous entities, in t...
By: Light Within
What are the lives of 3 public housing kids worth? Their mom files suit for
2009-08-04 00:31:00 Ebony Tiggs, a mother who lost three children in electrical fire in September 2008, filed a wrongful death suit in Cook County court today.The case is filed against the Housing Authority of Cook County, and asks for $51 million dollars from the housing authority, accusing the agency of neglience that resulted in the deaths of Cory Robinson, Jr., Jordan Robinson and Cameron Robinson....
Provident Housing buys 62 acres in Bangalore for Rs 150 cr
2009-08-03 16:09:00 Provident Housing, a fully-owned subsidiary of the Bangalore-based Puravankara Group, is learnt to have bought a 62-acre land parcel in the outskirts of Bangalore. The deal is believed to have been struck for a value of Rs 150 crore. A person involved...(read more)
Time is running out for Chicago public housing residents to return
2009-07-23 15:00:00 Cabrini Demolition. Photo by Ryan FlynnWhen the Plan For Transformation began 10 years ago, the main cry against it was displacement. As the old buildings began to be torn down, residents and housing activists feared that they would be kicked out of their homes, never to return. For some of those original residents, those fears may become a reality. The Chicago Housing Authority has put a time limit on how long residents have to let them know they intend on returning: 90 days. In 90 days, some 3200 families could lose their right to return to public housing....
Daley appoints five Chicago Housing Authority commissioners
2009-07-22 19:45:00 Commissioners Young, Beverly, Amey and King gather with their family today in the City Council ChambersFive commissioners were appointed to the Chicago Housing Authority board today at the Committee on Housing's monthly meeting at City hall. Three are new faces: Myra King, Deverra Beverly and Bridget Reidy. King and Beverly are resident leaders, both of which I wrote about back in June. Reidy is a senior vice president and chief supply officer at Exelon and was the Chief Operation Officer at the CHA from 1999-2001. She helped draft the original Plan for Transformation. Commissioner Bridget ReidyTwo are more familiar: Hallie Amey and Sandra Young. Young, however, now takes on a regular commissioner postrather than a resident post, as she has...
Wind Damage and Hurricane-Proof Housing
2009-07-16 20:40:00 if one was to study the subject of wind damage as in hurricane proof house building, what science in the civil subject would this be?
Should guns be allowed in public housing? Friday news round up
2009-07-10 17:45:00 Photo by Svadilfari There were so many interesting things to share, I couldn't wait until Monday. House Panel Adopts Amendment Allowing Guns in Public Housing - According to the article, this amendment likely won't make it to the to the final version of the bill. Introduced by Georgia Republican Tom Price, it would bar any housing authority from banning or restricting legal gun ownership so that residents can protect themselves. To me, the thought of guns being allowed in a place so densely populated with children is insane. What do you think? Do residents have the right to protect themselves with firearms? Or should guns, legal or illegal, be kept out of government-owned housing?Chatham Residents Fight to Protect Legacy -...
Singing and dancing about public housing - that's something that doesn
2009-07-09 23:15:00 This week, I visited the kids at MTW who are producing a musical they wrote themselves about growing up in Cabrini-Green as it changes from a public housing development to a mixed-income community. Tonight is opening night, and the start of a three-week run that will tour all around the city of Chicago. You should come! I'm going tonight, but there are lots of opportunities to see the show.Here's my list of reasons why you should come:It's really great.It's free.It's a recession, so going to something that's free is extra cool.It's a recession, so doing something intellectual is extra cool. It's really great.Music and theatre help us engage and connect with issues and people that we sometimes don't understand or...
Could you survive in a public housing high-rise? Part I
2009-06-30 20:45:00 The Tribune's Sara Olkon wrote today on the tension between public housing residents and condo owners at Westhaven, which I blogged about when WBEZ's Natalie Moore covered it a few weeks back. Same stuff - condo owners get mad because CHA residents hang out in public spaces. We always talk about how the condo owners want it quiet and don't want people hanging around. I can sympathize with that. It's annoying to have loud neighbors. They keep you up at night. It's disconcerting to see people you don't know hanging around your building.But here's the thing: that's only one way of looking at it. We talk about building skills a lot with public housing residents. Educational skills, job skills, interview...
Five cool things Chicago has done to make housing better
2009-06-29 22:30:00 While you sit at your computer reading this most-excellent blog, housing experts and policy wonks from across the nation are sitting in the Palmer House Hilton, wearing nametags and collecting swag from a conference called Solutions for Working Families, put on by the National Housing Conference and Center for Housing Policy.Perhaps you're asking yourself "Why should I care? I'm no housing policy wonk." That may be true. However, part of this whole dealio is a Chicagoland tour of what they call "innovative housing solutions." That's nonprofit speak for new stuff they've done to make housing better. And why should policy wonks have all the fun? After all, this is your city. You deserve to know about the innovative housing solutions!...
Low cast Housing Project
2009-06-09 10:34:00 We are interested in starting a housing Scheme we are seeking Partner to join us who can offer technology for the project or Finance for long term minimium period of 25 years plan.
BUBBLETALK - Open thread to talk about the housing crash, mortgage meltdown
2009-06-04 19:29:00 Keep it clean, keep it short, use tinyurl and have at it...
By: Housing PANIC
PUSH Buffalo Green Jobs & Housing Town Hall Meeting
2009-05-28 03:56:00 From the BP Mailbag: On Thursday, May 28th at 6p.m. PUSH Buffalo is hosting a Green Jobs & Housing Town Hall Meeting at 271 Grant St. There, PUSH and community members hope to open a dialog with and gain support for its platform from local elected officials. The ...
By: BuffaloPundit
BUBBLETALK - Open thread to talk about the housing crash, mortgage meltdown
2009-05-27 06:48:00 Have at it..And vote early and vote often for HP at this REIC blog contest (current hilarious leaderboard here). You can vote once a day supposedly...Vote for this siteReal Estate Blog Contestpresented by the FHA Loan Center
By: Housing PANIC
BUBBLETALK - Open thread to talk about the housing crash, mortgage meltdown
2009-04-16 01:08:00 Fire away
By: Housing PANIC
Boomers Flock to Community Housing as Antidote for Downsized Income
2009-04-05 22:05:00 Do you remember living with roommates to save money when you were in your 20s? You likely have less than positive memories of sharing space with people who were messier than you, louder than you, who smoked, drugged, and stayed...
Bushfire Housing: Bed Matchmaking For Fire Survivors
2009-04-01 12:00:00 Space-sharing businesses aren't new; we've seen businesses that advertise available parking spaces and Single Spot Camping where homeowners lease space in their own backyard for travelers to pop a tent. Bushfire Housing is a business that offers the most intimate form of space leasing; beds. And while it may seem intrusive, read on, because it's for a good cause.
Shilpa's London housing dreams come true - News
2009-03-29 20:30:00 Shilpa’s seeing London based Indian millionaire Raj Kundra for a while now and visiting London has become quite a normal thing for her.Recently she visited London not only to visit her new found friend, the late Jade Goody, but also because she wanted to check out a house for her. read more
BUBBLETALK - Open thread to talk about the housing crash, mortgage meltdown
2009-03-27 13:22:00 Have at it...
By: Housing PANIC
Housing for Outdoor Security Light
2009-03-24 20:50:00 I am looking for some kind of housing to use as an outdoor security light application. I don't want the electronics or lamp wiring. What I am finding are housings that are entire lights. I just need a a half circle wall sconce like the type you see on outside of buildings. I cannot "google" the rig
Neil Whitfield wrote a new blog post: Grim: old housing estate awaiting red
2009-03-19 00:28:00 Neil Whitfield wrote a new blog post: Grim: old housing estate awaiting redevelopment. Elizabeth Street Redfern
Govt can Take Measures to Provide Affordable Housing
2009-03-17 11:45:00 A high-level task force of the government has recommended setting up of a “real estate regulator” and a dedicated institutional framework to look into the issue of providing affordable houses to the people. The regulator could serve as a single window for overseeing and monitoring the affordable housing agenda and promote policy reforms like stamp ...
Creating A Plastic Housing Container
2009-03-13 01:54:00 Hi, Does anyone have any suggestions on how I would go about creating a 3-d plastic housing container for a small optical device? I have a CNC that I have been working with but from what I understand, it can only cut two dimensionally. I have also thought of vacuuming heated plastic over a mold
BUBBLETALK - open thread to talk about the housing bubble and crash and ong
2009-03-07 08:37:00 Chatter away
By: Housing PANIC
?The City Does Not Want to Own Housing.?
2009-03-04 18:36:00 Wednesday, March 04, 2009 “The City Does Not Want to Own Housing.” Such were the words of NYC’s Mayor Bloomberg on a local TV station a few minutes ago and an explanation as to why we have had virtually no affordable city housing made available to ...
BUBBLETALK - open thread to talk about the housing bubble and mortgage melt
2009-02-25 10:55:00 What's up?
By: Housing PANIC
Housing Price Impact on Household Income
2009-02-23 01:19:00 The deflation of the housing bubble (which was fueled by low rates and relaxed lending standards) triggered the current financial crisis and is now impacting Main Street through deteriorating consumer confidence. Falling home prices are a sure way to turn consumer spending levels toxic, but I think it is more than fiscal conservatism that is triggering decisions. I took a quick look at median home prices (and the year-on-year increases) and compared the gains to the average household income. The average consumer trend for the last 5-10 years has been to live comfortably, and then refinance surplus debt (credit cards, auto-loans, etc) into the home mortgage. As the mentality that home prices will always go up persisted, it became easier for consumers to associate home gains as additional household income that could be captured through refinancing. Although based on wide assumptions, the table below shows that consumer incomes were 10-20% higher due to average home price appreciation...
Real Stimulus Legislation Must Fix Housing, Create Jobs VIDEO
2009-02-16 21:27:00 Real Stimulus Legislation Must Fix Housing, Create Jobs; At a press conference in the U.S. Capitol, Senate Republicans emphasize the need for stimulus legislation that focuses on fixing housing and creating jobs instead of wasting taxpayer dollars on pork barrel spending and programs that don?t create jobs now.
BUBBLETALK - Open thread to talk about the housing crash and mortgage meltd
2009-02-06 03:49:00 What's on your mind?
By: Housing PANIC
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