@russellmcintyre
US Climate & Housing Policy Senior Policy Analyst at Cotality (views are my own) Carolina sports, star wars, marvel, and memes WNC / UNC '13 / GWU GSPM '16 / 📍DC #greensky #climatesky #housing #urbanism
Here's the full text and section-by-section breakdown of the combined housing bill the Senate is considering this week.
It includes Trump's institutional investor ban, so the White House will likely back it.
But the main focus is on increasing supply 🏠
www.banking.senate.gov/newsroom/min...
Been saying this for years - supply is only half the problem.
If incomes had kept up with rising home costs over the past 20+ years, we'd have fewer families priced out of the housing market today. 🏠
Doesn't matter how much we build if no one can afford it.
www.investopedia.com/what-if-a-ho...
Screenshot of a paragraph of text from the Final Rule as posted in the Federal Register. The text reads: "Most commenters opposed FHFA's proposal to repeal part 1293 and focused on the potential loss of societal benefits made available through the EHFPs. Commenters criticized part 1293 for not having more rigorous requirements, particularly for the Banks. Some commenters opposed the repeal based on the EHFPs' capability to reduce ongoing homeownership disparities and impact a multitude of underserved communities, unlike the statutorily mandated affordable housing goals and Duty to Serve programs that specify, and thereby limit, the underserved markets eligible for support." The first part of the first sentence ("Most commenters opposed FHFA's proposal to repeal part 1293") is highlighted for emphasis.
Welp, it's official - FHFA just repealed its Fair Lending, Fair Housing rule, despite the majority of public comments arguing against the repeal.
www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...
HUD just announced that it will no longer consider 'disparate impact' when drafting federal housing policies.
So, I guess it's okay to discriminate again, as long as you pinky promise that you didn't mean to. 🤷♂️
www.ncsha.org/blog/hud-pro...
This is... pretty comprehensive.
It promotes:
- offsite and modular construction
- advanced construction materials and methods
- accelerated permitting and digitalization
- incentives for states to enact zoning reforms
Also establishes a new investment platform to facilitate housing construction
As someone who grew up in that part of the Carolinas...
the affordability message is working ⤵️
“We’re living in the state of Florida, where we have people that are building cages for our residents rather than affordable housing for them.”
www.bisnow.com/south-florid...
"a group of Southern California homeowners, including some that lost their houses in the Eaton and Palisades fires, fought the draft rules"
I mean, the mental gymnastics required to lose your home in a fire then turn around and protest Zone Zero, like what🤸♂️
www.insurancejournal.com/news/west/20...
Mixed thoughts.
On one hand, their data source isn't property-specific, so the risk scores weren't as accurate as they need to be for actual pricing conversations.
However, still sad that this could push the housing industry away from more transparency in hazard risk disclosures, b/c we need it
Mixed bag here:
1) Glad it was removed b/c they were using data that isn't property-specific and made a lot of generalizations about the risk
2) Sad that this will lead to the housing industry backing away from more transparency in hazard risk disclosures, b/c that's something we desperately need.
Excited to see someone who genuinely cares about affordable housing jump into the DC mayoral race. 🏡🏘️
Looking forward to some specific housing proposals over the course of the campaign.
Best of luck @cmlewisgeorgew4.bsky.social !
"For a long time, people have been asking, ‘Could we monetize the savings from mitigation efforts to pay for the mitigation efforts?’"
North Carolina proving that it's possible.
And yes, we already have data to support this strategy:
"fortified homes had 60% fewer claims than code-compliant homes during regular storms, and 20% to 30% fewer claims with lower severity during named storms."
+
"NCIUA says...it will recoup $72 million over 10 years on the investment in roofs"
And no, this isn't "just another cat bond".
This has two unique features:
💸 if no major losses occur, $2M returns to NC to be used exclusively for the installation of wind-resistant 'super' roofs.
📉 as more roofs are installed, the bond's annual pricing resets to reflect the decreased exposure.
One of the BIGGEST problems in housing right now (in addition to the lack of supply) is the need to build homes that are more physically resilient to natural hazards but the lack of available funding to do so 🏡⛈️
Earlier this year, NC introduced a game-changer.
www.claimsjournal.com/news/nationa...
For much of the past decade, climate change has been pushing insurance premiums higher and higher.
A new lawsuit might actually be able to pin those financial costs to the big oil companies that created this mess.
🤞🤞🤞
mynorthwest.com/local/big-oi...
Chart from the US Census Bureau depicting the total housing units built per 100,000 people per year since 1970, with a horizontal line noting the historical average pre-2008 (which was slightly above 600 units per 100,000 people). The yearly average has dipped below the historical average every year since 2005. The most current data shows we're building roughly 450 units per 100,000 people.
"One reason we don’t build enough affordable housing is we’ve made affordable housing unaffordable to build."
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/23/o...
Climate 👏 Science 👏 Saves 👏 Lives
When you show people how climate change will affect them (and their finances), they tend to make the right decisions.
www.redfin.com/news/climate...
The next housing crisis in a nutshell:
💸 16% increase in monthly property taxes
⛈️ 146% increase in homeowners insurance costs
🏘️ historic undersupply of affordable housing
📈 high mortgage rates creating lock-in effect
🏚️ high costs of labor & materials preventing repair
www.urban.org/research/pub...
Just another straw on the housing market's overly strained back.
We really need to consider federal limits on the amount of single-family homes that investors can purchase, especially in LMI areas (though it'll be at least another 3.5 years before that happens).
www.housingwire.com/articles/inv...
Apparently we learned nothing from 2008...🤦♂️
Got a feeling that our next housing collapse is gonna look a lot like the last one.
www.cnbc.com/2025/10/08/b...
HUD.gov homepage with a new chyron that reads: "The Radical Left in Congress shut down the government. HUD will use available resources to help Americans in need."
The shutdown is bringing our housing market to a standstill and this is what HUD chooses to post on their front page today... 🤦♂️😒
If I were Mamdani, I wouldn't give two sh*ts about either of their endorsements.
Fear of diversity.
I'm from rural NC - almost everyone was white & religious and many hated 'the big city' because you were more likely to see non-white, non-straight, non-middle class, non-religious folk (that Fox News has taught them to be afraid of)
Mind you the 'big city' was Spartanburg, SC 🙄
Had a chance to sit down for a conversation on the current homeowners insurance crisis and the need to increase public funding for resiliency measures, at both the individual property and community level. 🏘️⛈️🌪
www.cotality.com/insights/art...
Been meaning to share this phenomenal research piece from Matt Posner and @el-xav.bsky.social over at @brookings.edu.
Doesn't just outline the current problems we have financing resiliency investments, but actually provides a roadmap for potential solutions. 🏡🏘️
www.brookings.edu/articles/ret...
Chart showing the change in average mortgage costs for principal, interest, tax, and insurance payments. Subce December 2019, property insurance costs have risen 69%; property taxes have risen 26.8%; interest has risen 27.4%; principal payments have risen 23.2%; which averages out to a 29.1% rise in total payments.
the next housing crisis isn't just around the corner... it's already here.
omg, it's like if we actually taxed the rich we could pay for things, who knew 🤷♂️
www.housingwire.com/articles/los...
Breaking news headline reading: DC sues Trump administration to stop National Guard deployment.
How... how did this take three weeks? Shoulda been day one. 🤦♂