Dear friend,

Welcome to Frontier, the monthly newsletter from the Future of Property Rights Program at New America. This month, we're thrilled to announce that we have joined an exciting USAID project looking at the environment, land, and resource management. We’ve also continued to explore the issue of poor-quality data related to home loss in the United States. Here's what we've been up to:

What We're Doing

FPR Joins USAID’s Integrated Natural Resource Management Project

The Future of Property Rights Program is excited to announce that we have joined the Integrated Natural Resource Management (INRM) activity at the United States Agency for International Development. 

As part of a consortium led by DAI, we will support USAID missions and operating units with uptake of the agency's cross-sectoral Environmental and Natural Resource Management Framework, with a focus on land, resource rights, and communications over the next five years.

There's a Looming Eviction Crisis, and We Have No Idea How Bad It Will Be

Yuliya Panfil wrote for Slate about the massive data gaps in the U.S. housing loss space. It will be impossible to curb our nation’s tsunami of COVID-related home loss if policymakers and housing advocates don't have accurate data to measure the problem.

Real-time information on which communities are experiencing the highest rates of displacement could help local leaders direct housing funds, lobby for more help, and prioritize which doors get a knock to spread the word about assistance programs. Yet publicly-available data on evictions and foreclosures doesn't exist. Why? The answer involves money and mandates.

Read more here.

FPR Presents Research on Community Land Trusts at the GKC Smart Cities Conference

FPR fellow Natalie Chyi participated in a Smart Cities Conference, hosted by Governing Knowledge Commons and Villanova University, to discuss smart technology deployment and commons governance.

In collaboration with Dan Wu from Immuta, Natalie shared an overview of FPR's research on community land trusts (CLTs) in South Florida. The presentation focused on the strategies that CLTs deploy to improve vulnerable residents' resilience, how those approaches change over time, and new challenges surfaced by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keep an eye out for our case study findings in a forthcoming book published by Cambridge University Press!

What We're Reading

"'Dramatic' global rise in laws defending rights of nature" - Thomson Reuters Foundation News

Carey Biron explores a growing legal movement globally: rights of nature laws. From New Zealand to Uganda, lakes, rivers, and entire ecosystems are being recognized with the rights to exist and prosper. In some countries, residents can even sue over harm on behalf of nature. With nearly half of all species at risk of disappearing by 2050, it's critical for policymakers around the world to continue to adopt innovative solutions to help protect our planet.

"Thousands of D.C. Renters Are Evicted Every Year. Do They All Know To Show Up To Court?" - DCist

Eviction court is an intimidating place for most tenants--especially if they're lacking legal representation or don't know their rights. Some don't bother showing up. But other times, renters aren't even aware of their court date. Reporting by Josh Kaplan reveals widespread "sewer service" and fraud among process servers in Washington, D.C., as thousands of the city's tenants have not been properly notified of their eviction hearing. The District maintains some of the most tenant-friendly laws in the U.S., yet this article reminds us that stark power imbalances persist within the rental space.

"Florida Sees Signals of a Climate-Driven Housing Crisis" - The New York Times

Enormous wildfires in California and a busy hurricane season make clear that the impacts of climate change are already affecting millions of Americans. In some Florida communities, however, the effects are more subtle. Christopher Flavelle examines research that finds a slowdown of real estate transactions in vulnerable, low-lying counties, a commonly-accepted antecedent of tumbling home values. But aside from managed retreat, what can places like Key West do to increase resilience amid rising waters?

Thoughts on our work or where we're headed? Feel free to reach out to us at FPR@NewAmerica.org.

Until next month, the FPR 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 Property Rights 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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