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Dear friend,
Welcome to Frontier, the monthly newsletter from the Future of Land and Housing Program at New America. This month, we welcomed summer interns, Leonardo Torres and Gabriella Gricius-Abbott, to the program. We also ramped up our research on small-dollar mortgages in North Carolina, selected local jurisdictions as partners for developing a housing loss public toolkit, and continued to explore community-based land mapping in Tanzania and throughout the developing world.
Here's what else we've been up to:
What We're Doing
Why It's so Hard to Gauge the Extent of California's Eviction Crisis
An estimated 120,000 eviction cases are filed in California during a typical year, yet we don't know how many tenants in the state actually face eviction. Much of the data is either unavailable or shielded from public view. Keeping eviction records private protects tenants, but it also precludes housing advocates and policymakers from understanding the scale of the issue and answering key questions, such as who is experiencing eviction and where?
FLH Fellow Fanilla Cheng recently explored California's gap in eviction data, and offered potential solutions. Read her piece on the FLH Blog.
What Does Climate Change in the Arctic Have to Do with Housing, Land, and Property Rights?
Climate change is generating irreversible effects in Arctic ecosystems, and rising temperatures negatively impact communities, their homes, and their infrastructure throughout the region.
Land and housing issues in the Arctic are compounded by complex dynamics, such as Indigenous traditions, geopolitical realities, and resource constraints. So any solutions to these problems are likely valuable for other parts of the globe struggling to adapt.
To kick off an upcoming series on the nexus between climate change, land, and the Arctic, FLH intern Gabriella Gricius-Abbott highlights some key issues for the FLH Blog.
Mapping Inequity: Learning From the Past to Mobilize Resources
The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated socioeconomic inequality throughout the United States—in work, education, housing, and more. So how can we fight back? Using data to better understand inequity is often a good place to start.
Policy analyst Tim Robustelli recently joined our colleagues at New America Local and Councilmember Lauren Kuby from Tempe, Arizona to discuss how mapping and analyzing housing loss data can help local decision-makers more effectively target housing aid and shield vulnerable families from displacement.
Check out a recording of the event here.
What We're Reading
This month, we're sharing what articles or resources stood out to each FLH team member. We'd love to know what has influenced your thinking lately.
Sabiha Zainulbhai
Housing Is a Social Good: Housing is more than a vehicle for wealth creation; it's the “linchpin of human flourishing and community stability.” Yet, it’s still largely a commodity bought and sold on the private market. How does this limit the solutions we pose for the future of housing in the U.S.?
Tim Robustelli
Malaysian urban dwellers ‘reclaim’ city land, one garden at a time: Locals are carving out gardens in glitzy Kuala Lumpur, but face high costs, bureaucratic hurdles, and the threat of eviction. Communities’ fights for their plots suggest that it’s past time for land use reform in urban Malaysia.
Elaine Tsui
Can Removing Highways Fix America’s Cities?: Highways built in U.S. cities during the 1950s and 1960s often destroyed once-thriving Black neighborhoods. As some cities consider removing their highways, how do they reconnect neighborhoods equitably?
Gabriella Gricius-Abbott
How Returning Lands to Native Tribes is Helping Protect Nature: Across the U.S., land is being given back to Indigenous tribes who have committed to governing it for conservation. How will this land transfer impact issues like wildlife management and decreasing biodiversity?
Leonardo Torres
According to Need: In this five episode podcast, reporter Katie Mingle lays out the system in place to address homelessness in Oakland, California, where homelessness doubled in less than five years. With rates like these, who is the system serving and is there a better way?
Thoughts on our work or where we're headed? Feel free to reach out to us at FLH@NewAmerica.org or tag us at @FLHatNewAmerica.
Until next month, the FLH Team.
About New America
New America is dedicated to renewing the promise of America, bringing us closer to our nation’s highest ideals. We’re a different kind of think tank: one dedicated to public problem solving. Our team of visionary researchers, changemakers, technologists, and storytellers study and seize the opportunities presented by dramatic social and technological change. We search for powerful ideas, wherever they are, and collaborate with civic innovators around the world to develop evidence-based solutions.
The Future of Land and Housing Program at New America aims to help solve today’s property rights challenges, both at home and abroad. Through our research, writing, and convening, we strive to connect new constituencies and shed light on underreported issues in the property rights space.
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