Housing

ProPublica reports: The findings were stark. In one investigation, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development concluded that a Texas state agency had steered $1 billion in disaster mitigation money away from Houston and nearby communities of color after Hurricane Harvey inundated the region in 2017. In another investigation, HUD found that a homeowners association outside of Dallas had …

Housing Wire reports: As President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Scott Turner will be questioned on Thursday by lawmakers of both parties in his confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. But ahead of that hearing, a familiar Trump foe — Sen. Elizabeth …

Ars Technica reports: The US Justice Department today announced it filed an antitrust lawsuit against “six of the nation’s largest landlords for participating in algorithmic pricing schemes that harmed renters.” The US previously sued RealPage, a software maker accused of helping landlords collectively set prices by giving them access to competitors’ nonpublic pricing and occupancy information. The original version of …

Gothamist reports: What’s the most expensive neighborhood for rentals in New York City? That would be Tribeca, which has a median asking rent of $8,295, according to listing service StreetEasy, which has released a year end analysis of 2024’s residential real estate trends. In second place is SoHo ($6,100), and the Flatiron District came in third ($5,900). The report also …

NPR reports: Texas’ business and economic sectors say mass deportations could upend some of the state’s major industries that rely on undocumented labor, chief among them the booming construction industry. “It would devastate our industry, we wouldn’t finish our highways, we wouldn’t finish our schools,” said Stan Marek, CEO of Marek, a Houston-based commercial and residential construction giant. “Housing would …

CNN reports: President-elect Donald Trump on Friday named former NFL player and White House official Scott Turner to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development. If confirmed by the Senate, Turner would lead an agency that enforces fair housing laws, administers mortgage insurance to prospective homeowners and gives rental subsidies to lower-income families, among other things. Turner serves as …

Bloomberg News reports: The United States Supreme Court refused to question New York’s rent-control system, turning away two appeals that said the rules violate apartment owners’ constitutional rights. One appeal, pressed by 12 sets of property owners in New York City and Yonkers, targeted restrictions on landlords who want to reclaim rental units for personal use or convert buildings to …

CNBC reports: The Department of Justice and eight states on Friday accused software company RealPage of unlawfully scheming to undermine competition among landlords and create a monopoly that harms millions of renters. RealPage “allows landlords to manipulate, distort, and subvert market forces,” the Justice Department said in a civil complaint in U.S. District Court in North Carolina. “At bottom, RealPage …

Semafor reports: The former congressman was expelled last Friday for a variety of sins and alleged crimes, including overcharging the credit card of a colleague’s mother. He has, in the intervening four days, stumbled across a path to making a living that dwarfs the $174,000 salary he earned as a member of Congress. The former congressman, who is currently facing …

Gothamist reports: Mayor Eric Adams opened a new window into his vision for building New York City out of the current housing crisis, with a riff on “dormitory” style accommodations generating a fair amount of backlash from fellow New Yorkers. During a conversation on Monday, Adams said he wants to “do a real examination” of the laws that require windows …

Gothamist reports: Mayor Eric Adams on Monday released details of a plan to turn empty offices into brand new apartments to help relieve New York City’s affordable housing crunch. Adams’ office conversion blueprint includes specific proposals to ease zoning restrictions and offer tax breaks to property owners. Remote work has drastically reduced the use of office space throughout New York …

Axios reports: Billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel has told the McConnell-aligned Senate Leadership Fund he is willing to make a multimillion-dollar investment in the Arizona race on the condition the super PAC finds matching funds, Axios has learned. With 28 days until the midterms, a late cash injection of this scale could prove decisive in one of 2022’s key Senate …

The Kansas City Star reports: On Monday, a Johnson County city unanimously voted to ban a living arrangement aimed at helping tenants decrease the amount of rent they pay. The Shawnee City Council voted 8-0 to ban co-living, which has gained popularity in recent years as rent and home prices have soared. The new ordinance defines a co-living group as …