Photo by NR flickr pool user Jillian Elder, Victory Designs.
Transplant sees Newburgh ripe for wine shop [THR]
EcoShrimp in Newburgh [THR]
Newburgh eyes increase in illegal dumping fines [THR]
108 Join Walking Tour of Historic Newburgh Cemetery [HSNBH]
Affordable rental housing complex opens in Newburgh [THR]
Last Stop on the L Train: Detroit [NYT]
For Sale: The $100 House [NYT]
Middletown to Get More Affordable Housing [Epoch Times]
A Second Life For Old Shipping Containers: Farms, Shops and Housing [Nation Swell]
Add your own photos depicting city life to the Newburgh Restoration flickr pool to be used on the blog, or email me. **Flickr users please do not forgot to remove disabling of downloading of pictures. Otherwise I can’t use them**
Spoiler Alert: “Affordable Housing” may be discriminatory. If you missed it, the Supreme Court recently ruled that ‘fair housing’ efforts are open game for ‘disparate impact’ claims. Entities can be sued for unintentional discrimination when when providing in lower income communities. The argument being that in doing so it potentially perpetuates segregation. The City of Newburgh Manager commented on the ruling and its possible effects on the city… http://newburghny.swagit.com/play/07132015-956 (Item 7C). fyi…http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/13-1371_m64o.pdf
Coincidentally, HUD has also issued a new Rule that better informs grantees and municipalities regarding ‘fair housing’ practices. However, “It does not mandate specific outcomes for the planning process.” http://www.huduser.org/portal/affht_pt2.html
My take, it’s forced demographics and part of the social engineering I alluded to in a previous post. It puts the local lending institutions, non-profits, builders & munis in an awkward position. Paradoxically, if ‘housing desegregation’ redirects projects to the ‘burbs (that will be a show to watch) is this not a shot of adrenaline for gentrification? The urban revitalization we read about just might manifest sooner than later. Somewhere there’s a progressive cringing… “not in my back yard”.
None the less, this opens up a can of worms. How will property values be assessed when a low income project is built in the more affluent neighborhood (in the ‘Burgh they just designate the project as a neighborhood on to itself and tell you it has no effect)? Aside from housing, what will be the effects on employment relations, education policy & district funding, credit markets, consumerism etc ? The ruling is not an elimination of segregation but an expansion of it . “It’s a big club and you ain’t in it”.