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Fort Lauderdale delays affordable-housing law in order to adjust plan

A law expanding housing subsidies to the middle class and ordering developers to sell or rent homes at an affordable price -- or pay fees instead -- was sent back for more work Tuesday by the city commission. Fort Lauderdale is moving toward passing one of Broward County's first affordable-housing laws. But city commissioners said they want one more public Source : accessmylibrary.com

Middle-income housing law at issue

The latest version of a proposed law that would require developers to build housing for middle-income buyers has drawn a new group of critics -- homeowners and community councils throughout Miami-Dade County, concerned that zoning decisions would be taken out of their hands, jeopardizing their neighborhoods and property values. The "workforce housing" ordinance will have its first public hearing today in front of a county commission committee that deals with land-use issues. The law would require developers of most projects built in unincorporated Miami-Dade County to set aside Source : accessmylibrary.com

Class-action suits threatening homebuilders

Like doctors, truckers and many other business groups, America's homebuilders are the targets of class-action lawsuits. These suits involve construction defects, and the whole country is paying for it. Construction-defect litigation, which first emerged in California in the 1980s, has since spread to other Western states and has emerged as far away as North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Trial lawyers in these states are targeting multifamily construction and filing suit, in some cases before a defect is even identified. This practice has led to multimillion-dollar awards against builders, resulting in higher housing costs for consumers. Just as with the lottery,

Affordable Housing Fight Will Not Let Up

MORE than a decade ago, the General Assembly passed legislation forcing many towns and cities that lacked substantial affordable housing to approve such housing developments in their communities. Ever since then towns, many of them affluent, have been crying foul, insisting the mandate provides undue advantage to developers who use the law to force local zoning boards to approve high density, massive housing developments that only include a minimum of affordable units that are not really all that affordable. Town officials maintain the developments put an undue strain on town services, are far too dense, worsen already existing traffic and

Foreclosures bring out bargain hunters

Valerie Hinchee fights to stay with debts rental purchased two objects in the vicinity of the tip of the housing boom. But they think plunged into the market again. The torrent Rechtsausschließungen beat of this middle-class community to Florida's Gulf Coast creates opportunities, which seem too pleasant to drive. Ms. Hinchee prospecting tenders had been aboard an expedition with the effects of eviction Tours R Us, one month of operations from local real estate brokerage Marc Joseph up buyers with houses, housing and many countries is fire sale price. As a result of the hearing, about excursions in other pushed

Change the rules The problem is in the planning, regulation, building codes and with the neighbors

Second of two parts . Most of those who have studied the problem would agree with Steve Lawton, director of Community Development for the fast-growing East Bay city of Hercules, who says bluntly, "The lack of affordable housing is a huge public policy failure, and it can only be resolved by changing the rules. We're taking the default option -- push all the new households out to the Central Valley and make 'em crazy on the freeways. "Instead, we need to establish new, regionally based institutions and tools of governance. Only then will land-use patterns fit our real needs." Lawton

Affordable housing law delayed again

Once again the city has stalled a law that would make housing more affordable to working class buyers. Commissioners are under pressure from Broward County to pass an affordable housing law or face not being allowed to expand residential development downtown. But city commissioners said that they still can't agree on what kind of law to pass and that they preferred to wait until the county creates a policy and rules on Source : accessmylibrary.com

Not Another Lincoln Center

THE housing of various worthy, prestigious, philanthropically well-endowed arts institutions at ground zero will only serve to accelerate the cultural decline of New York City. The plans currently being discussed are all in the best of taste, which is why they should be rejected. We already have more than our share of monuments to polite culture -- more than we can use, actually. Furthermore, the concentration of dance companies, museums, performance spaces and whatever else on newly developed acreage is a recipe for urban desolation. The last time such a thing was tried on a large scale, it produced the

High Court Expands Reach of Eminent Domain

Cities may bulldoze people's homes to make way for shopping malls or other private development, a divided Supreme Court (search) ruled Thursday, giving local governments broad power to seize private property to generate tax revenue. In a scathing dissent, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor (search) said the decision bowed to the rich and powerful at the expense of middle-class Americans. The 5-4 decision means that homeowners will have more limited rights. Still, legal experts said they didn't expect a rush to claim homes. "The message of the case to cities is yes, you can use eminent domain, but you better be careful and conduct

Fixing the inclusionary housing law

The San Diego City Council has an opportunity to affirm its commitment to solving the affordable housing crisis for the city's working families. Last week, responding to a lawsuit by the Building Industry Association, a Superior Court judge invalidated the city's inclusionary housing ordinance on a technicality, and an apparently thin technicality at that. The judge gave the city the language it needs to fix the ordinance, and that should be done immediately. In 2002, housing advocates and the City Council came to the table in good faith, seeking workable solutions for all stakeholders. It's now clear that the BIA