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8 Reasons Why Fair Housing Is Still Important

Tuesday, April 17, 2018
In this Issue: Amazon's Opportunity to Revitalize Communities ● Marketplace for Health and Housing ● Q: Can Community Development Improve Health Sector Outcomes? ● Also: Jobs ● Shelter Shorts ● Events Industry News +
Shelter Shorts

Really, YIMBYs? | Tracking 80 Million Evictions | TOD Without Displacement | MLK's Campaign, Revitalized | Airbnb Hastening Demise of NOLA Culture? | Bike "Borrowing" for Equity | More...
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Rachel G. Bratt, Tufts University
This month marks the 50th anniversary of the passage of the federal Fair Housing Act, and it’s disappointing that HUD Secretary Ben Carson is doing all he can to undermine its mission. There are at least eight reasons why fair housing continues to be such an important issue, including… Read Full Article
Megan Sandel, Boston University School of Medicine, and Allison Bovell-Ammon, Children’s HealthWatch
Our current “investments” in health are not working. Despite spending more per person on health services than other nations, the U.S. continues to have worse health outcomes. How do we set up a marketplace that addresses the social determinants of health and changes the ratios of health investments? Read Full Article
Dan Hoffman
If corporations continue to be able to extract public subsidies as the price of locating in a community, perhaps the debate is not whether to offer subsidies but rather to reconsider how and for what purpose such subsidies are to be provided. Here’s one incentive that might actually be worth offering... Read Full Article
A: Yes! Over 50 percent of premature deaths in the U.S. can be attributed to preventable non-medical factors, specifically behavioral, environmental, and social conditions. Through its work in areas such as affordable housing, neighborhood quality, and safety, the community development field reduces the need for many... See Infographic
Industry News
The National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) has promoted its two top executives to co-leadership positions and announced the creation of a new political unit. NCRC’s John Taylor has been named president & founder, and will lead a new political arm of NCRC—Americans for a Fair Deal—to help elect politicians who support upward mobility for poor and working-class Americans. Jesse Van Tol, who has most recently been serving as chief operating officer, has been named NCRC’s CEO. Taylor and Van Tol will co-lead the organization to expand opportunities for affordable housing, economic development in low- and moderate-income communities, and fairness in financial services.
Events

Thursday, April 26, 1 p.m. EDT ● Measuring Mobility: Power, Autonomy, and Being Valued in CommunityThe US Partnership on Mobility from Poverty and Stanford University’s SPARQ (Social Psychological Answers to Real-world Questions) lab present this webinar to share tools to measure three core principles of mobility: economic success, power and autonomy, and being valued in community. Many people working on increasing mobility from poverty are familiar with measures of economic success but are often less familiar with high-quality and well-developed measures of power, autonomy, communion, and belonging.
Resources

Picture the Homeless has released their latest policy report. The Business of Homelessness: Financial & Human Costs of the Shelter-Industrial Complex is the result of a year-long investigation into the fiscal policies and priorities that influence the lives of homeless New Yorkers, and how those priorities could be adjusted to support permanent, stable, and decent housing. If the system is bad for the budget, bad for homeless people, and bad for neighborhoods, who exactly is profiting?
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You Said It!

One stellar thing about urban redevelopment areas (URAs) in Portland; fully 45% of the gross revenue in all the URAs must be invested into affordable housing. Significantly greater than the common practice in… —Urbanista, more

As of 2017, [land trust] homeowners who have lived in their homes for at least 10 years earn an average of $76,000 in equity in their home. —Proud Ground, via Twitter

What if they don’t want to become homeowners and endure that financial burden? Rental set-asides would be a good idea, too... —Carol Ott, via Twitter

“Culturally appropriate” foods? It’s possible to take this too far. My grandmother’s foods would be culturally appropriate for me, and many of them retain emotional significance for me and my family. But she had no… —EB, more

The Answer has been a great resource for staff and members at Housing Action Illinois. The one-pagers break down complicated topics in understandable ways without oversimplifying them. We’ve been inspired to think about how we can create similar graphic explainers to questions specific to Illinois. Thank you for creating a valuable set of intelligent responses to thorny questions! —Kristin Ginger, via email
Jobs
Executive DirectorHousing Initiatives is a nonprofit that serves homeless mentally ill individuals using the housing-first model. Our new ED will need experience in financial and human resources management and nonprofit fund development, and will oversee a staff of at least ten people, as well as management of over... Read Full Listing
Community Development Manager – Midwest Region (Michigan and Ohio)NCST seeks the right individual to be responsible for establishing and maintaining relationships with public, nonprofit, and for-profit partners to support the acquisition of vacant and/or abandoned properties from financial institutions for the purpose of returning these properties to productive use... Read Full Listing
Construction Project ManagerIn accordance with Habitat for Humanity in Whatcom County’s construction standards and policies, the CPM supervises overall construction activity and provides leadership to volunteers, staff, and paid sub-contractors. Most workweeks include Saturdays supervising the construction site... Read Full Listing
Executive DirectorCharlottesville Tomorrow, a nonprofit news organization in Charlottesville, Virginia, is seeking a dynamic leader to become its next executive director. This executive director will oversee and manage all aspects of the organization, with a particular focus on strategic planning, financial management, and... Read Full Listing
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