Fort Worth is making some progress with two affordable housing projects. Jimmy and EJ discuss both projects in the big story.
Short Story 1: District 7 candidate makes Wokelandia game
https://www.star-telegram.com/news/politics-government/article272628203.html#storylink=cpy
Short Story 2: The city is looking to change how council member proposals are approved for the agenda
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/13-decrease-in-violent-crime-%2411m-in-housing-for-homeless/id1579328171?i=1000602691785
Short Story 3: City vows to listen and revamp comprehensive plan
https://fortworthreport.org/2023/02/28/fort-worth-vows-to-listen-as-it-revamps-comprehensive-plan-communities-of-color-are-skeptical/
BIG STORY: Affordable Housing
Fort Worth offers $11 million to buy Southwestern Seminary dorms for homeless families: https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/fort-worth/article272637518.html
The troubled hotel in Las Vegas Trail will be renovated for homeless families
https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/fort-worth/article272711765.html#storylink=mainstage_card5
* First-time buyers made up the smallest share of sales on record last year, at 26%, even as home values started to cool, according to the National Association of Realtors.
** Before the pandemic, about a third of first-time homeowners relied on a gift or loan from families or friends for at least part of their down payment, said Zillow’s Olsen. That increased to about 40% in 2021, she said. Meanwhile, the number of young adult buyers with an co-borrower over the age of 55 has spiked since 2021, according to Freddie Mac.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-02/will-home-prices-fall-first-time-buyers-face-a-costly-housing-market?leadSource=uverify%20wall
*** Few Americans lived on the streets in the early post-war period because housing was cheaper. Back then, only one in four tenants spent more than 30% of their income on rent, compared with one in two today. The best evidence suggests that a 10% rise in housing costs in a pricey city prompts an 8% jump in homelessness.
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2019/12/18/how-to-cut-homelessness-in-the-worlds-priciest-cities
**** Everything you think you know about homelessness is wrong
https://noahpinion.substack.com/p/everything-you-think-you-know-about
Wins
Jimmy: UTA architecture bridge student project
EJ: Community Frontline Mural
Losses
Jimmy: Texas politics
EJ: Fort Worths misalignment on being a fiscally responsible city
