Mar 08 Watch 5:44 How a cartoonist is highlighting the lives of San Diego’s homeless residents By PBS News Hour Pulitzer-prize winning editorial cartoonist Steve Breen is using his drawings to highlight the growing problem of homelessness and the housing crisis in Southern California. Jeffrey Brown gets a first-hand look at the cartoonist and newspaper’s efforts to humanize and complicate… Continue watching
Feb 07 How the housing crisis boxed in some job seekers By Making Sen$e Editor When job searchers were constrained geographically due to the "lock in" effect of lower home values, they were more likely to apply for lower-level and lower-paying positions within their commuting zone. Continue reading
Dec 16 Seeing chance to discredit Trump’s populist appeal, Democrats eye confirmation fight over Treasury pick By Julie Bykowicz and Julie Pace, Associated Press Given the narrow GOP majority in the Senate, Steven Mnuchin is likely to be confirmed. But Democrats plan to rough him up along the way, grilling the former Goldman Sachs executive over his Wall Street ties and his stake in… Continue reading
Nov 19 Did the nation’s largest housing recovery initiative work? By Making Sen$e Editor The nation's largest housing recovery initiative led to more household spending, but impediments to competition kept it from reaching its full potential. Continue reading
Oct 22 Watch 6:44 What should be done with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? By PBS News Hour In “Shaky Ground,” financial writer Bethany McLean takes a close look at mortgage-lending institutions Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and their role before, during and since the 2008 financial meltdown. She joins Jeffrey Brown to discuss the origin of the… Continue watching
Sep 24 Watch 8:11 For some underwater mortgages, a chance to buy again at market rate By PBS News Hour We may have heard that the housing crisis is over, but that’s not the case for many homeowners in lower-income neighborhoods across the country. Economics correspondent Paul Solman looks at how a Boston nonprofit lender is working to stop foreclosures… Continue watching
Mar 26 Why location, location, location in real estate is ‘BS’ By Marc Joseph Location, real estate agent Marc Joseph learned firsthand, is not enough to substantiate buying a house. He lost $600,000 in Florida's 2005 housing bubble, and the way prices are climbing, he's worried the Sunshine State is veering toward another bust. Continue reading
Mar 06 From homeowner to homeless, meet a victim of Florida’s ongoing foreclosure crisis By Simone Pathe Florida's foreclosure crisis isn't over. David, whose last name we're not using, used to have a job, a paycheck and a roof over his head. But days after he handed over the keys to his house for cash, he found… Continue reading
Mar 06 Watch Meet a victim of Florida’s ongoing foreclosure crisis By PBS News Hour Continue watching
Oct 27 When refinancing helps the poor, and everyone else By Simone Pathe Economists know that lower income households most commonly refinance their mortgages and tap that equity when home values rise. But a new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research finds that when those households have extra cash on hand,… Continue reading