Crise financeira

Banks Threaten Elderly Veterans With Foreclosure in the USA

September 18, 2012 Robert Moses (pictured above) is 92, an African American and a World War II Navy veteran. Don Baird is a couple of weeks shy of his 90th birthday, is scheduled for heart surgery next week, and is also a World War II veteran. Aside from being former servicemen, both men also share one […]

UN stresses positives of urban growth with new tool to track city prosperity

September 05, 2012 Cities should be seen as drivers of economic growth and human development, says report published at World Urban Forum A new index to measure and track the prosperity of cities has been unveiled by UN-Habitat, the UN human settlements programme, in a bid to encourage a more upbeat view of the world’s […]

In Ruined Apartments, a Symbol of Ireland’s Fall

September 3rd, 2012 To visit Graham Usher’s dream apartment in Priory Hall, the most notorious of Ireland’s ruined ghost developments, is to see what Ireland aspired to be, and what it became instead. The apartment, bought for $315,000 in early 2006, is now covered by a brick facade that looks as if some giant creature had raked […]

In Spain, Madrid’s ‘slum of shame’ faces uncertain future

August 28, 2012 Europe’s largest illegal settlement lies just outside the Spanish capital, Madrid. A sprawling tangle of tents and cement houses, Cañada Real is now home to over 40,000 people. But maybe not for long… In Cañada Real, roads and alleyways are unpaved. Houses are made of corrugated metal or cement. Some lots are […]

In Portugal, austerity measures threaten the most vulnerable

August 10, 2012 “The most vulnerable social groups have been hit hardest by the fiscal austerity measures implemented in Portugal. The government should strengthen its efforts to mitigate the negative impact of the financial crisis, in particular on children, elderly and the Roma” said today Commissioner Muižnieks publishing a report based on the findings of his […]

In the US, California affordable housing projects suffer from loss of funding

August 12, 2012 By Alexandra Zavis and Jessica Garrison Duroville trailer park residents are among the victims of a loss of state and federal funding that affordable housing projects had historically relied on. Four years after a dilapidated Coachella Valley trailer park known as Duroville became a national symbol of slum housing, Riverside County officials […]

In the US, the one housing solution left: mass mortgage refinancing

August 12, 2012 By JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ and MARK ZANDI MORE than four million Americans have lost their homes since the housing bubble began bursting six years ago. An additional 3.5 million homeowners are in the foreclosure process or are so delinquent on payments that they will be soon. With 13.5 million homeowners underwater — they owe more […]

Social housing evictions ‘harder’ in Scotland

July 31st, 2012 A law which makes it harder for councils and housing associations to evict tenants for failing to pay their rent has come into place in Scotland. Changes introduced by the Housing Scotland Act 2010 mean social landlords now need to undertake a series of actions before going to court to evict a […]

Affordable rental housing scarce in Sacramento region, in the United States

July 23, 2012 by Cynthia Hubert and Phillip Reese Trying to find affordable rental housing in the Sacramento region is a bit like playing the lottery: Fifty thousand prospective tenants recently vied for one of 3,000 slots on a Sacramento County waiting list for subsidized housing. Families are waiting two years for an apartment in an affordable housing […]

A Foregone Foreclosure

July 18, 2012 by Jonathan Blitzer By 7:30 a.m., two hours before the authorities are due to arrive to enforce the foreclosure, some 15 people are already assembled to stop it. A family of five mingles with friends and local activists in front of No. 20 Calle de Dolores Armengot, in the working-class neighborhood of […]