News

Mortgage rise will plunge a million homeowners into ‘perilous debt’

According to a new report from an influential thinktank, the Resolution Foundation, even in the most optimistic scenario – in which interest rates rise slowly to 3% by 2018 and economic growth is strong and well-distributed between the rich and poor – 1.12 million homeowners will be spending more than half of their take-home pay on mortgage repayments – this is a widely accepted indicator of over-indebtedness.

High Court judge stops Ruai evictions as 3,000 squatters fight for their land

Fugicha said they have occupied the land for the last 14 years without interruption and want the judge stop any eviction. “The defendants intend to evict us and we pray that this court restrains them,” Fugicha said. He said in the interest of justice so that their property is not damaged, the court should protect them.

Chicago signs legislation giving homeoweners more time to avoid foreclosure

Because of the state’s continued high unemployment during Quinn’s term, the bill signed Thursday extends the law through the Dec. 31, 2015 deadline for the loan modification program.

New Jersey foreclosure pipeline remains clogged

The number of homes entering foreclosure across the nation is at its lowest level in years, but a persistent backlog has left New Jersey stuck at year’s end with the nation’s second-largest percentage of homes in some stage of foreclosure. Nearly 7 percent of New Jersey homes are in the foreclosure pipeline, behind only Florida.

Projects Under Scrutiny Displace Istanbul’s Poor

On the narrow streets that slope from one of Istanbul’s hills toward the shoreline of the Golden Horn waterway, old wooden houses where military officers of the Ottoman Empire lived are being painstakingly refurbished to their original design. Before the officers arrived, the area, which includes the city’s biggest mosque, was for centuries a center of Islamic scholarship.

Give Women Priority in Land Allocation, says Chief Chiwala

Chief Chiwala of the Lamba-speaking people in Masaiti District has said women should be given priority in land allocation because they are the main drivers of agriculture.

High court blocks Elgeyo Marakwet squatters’ eviction

Justice Ochieng issued an injunction stopping the eviction after an application filed by Lawyer Thomas Openda for the families. They squatters want the state to give them more time so that they prepare to vacate from the forests later.

Leading the Charge Against Spain’s Mortgage Crisis

A few years ago, Ms. Colau was an unknown in Spain. But these days, her work defending homeowners who have fallen behind on their mortgages has made her a household name, and she is often stopped on the street by strangers offering encouragement.

Press statement by the Special Rapporteur on the human right to water and sanitation, Catarina de Albuquerque, at the end of her visit to Brazil, 9-19 December 2013

The UN Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation, Catarina de Albuquerque, has undertaken an official mission to Brazil from 9 to 19 December to evaluate the improvements and challenges the country still faces in realizing the human rights to water and sanitation. Read the statement she gave at the end of the mission.

“In a land with great potential and deep contrast, nobody must be left behind”, says UN expert after mission in Brazil

The Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation today urged the Brazilian authorities to give further priority to the poorest and most marginalized.