February 16, 2017
Thursday’s Advocacy & Think Tank Roundup
- In a blog post, Stephen Sugg of the Housing Assistance Council (HAC) writes about how infrastructure spending targeted toward affordable rural housing can create jobs, help families achieve financial stability and offer immediate fiscal benefits for states and localities.
- An analysis by the Urban Institute shows that it was harder for a lower-credit borrower to get a mortgage in 2014 and 2015 than it was before 2006, and fewer lower-credit borrowers have been applying for mortgages since 2007.
- Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito have announced that New York City will fund universal access to legal services for tenants facing eviction in housing court. Under the new $93 million allocation, the city will offer free legal advice to all tenants in New York City Housing Court and full legal representation for low-income tenants – households earning incomes below $50,000 a year. Supporters of the initiative argue that providing free legal services to low-income tenants could save the city millions of dollars by decreasing the city’s expenditure on placing evicted tenants and families into the shelter system.