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Dear friend,
Welcome to Frontier, the monthly newsletter from the Future of Property Rights Program at New America. We've been busy planning our 2020, with a continued focus on housing instability in the U.S., as well as on the use of digital trails to unlock property rights. We're also gearing up for an event on heirs property in partnership with the Howard University School of Law and the Howard University School of Business. Here's what we've been up to:
What We're Doing
Minding the (Housing Data) Gap
FPR has crisscrossed the U.S. in recent months to research housing instability and displacement. What did we learn? That the data needed to solve housing issues really isn’t there.
Tim Robustelli wrote for The New America Weekly examining this public data gap, and highlighting how accurate and available data can alleviate housing loss.
'The Biggest Problem You've Never Heard Of': Examining Heirs Property and Black Property Loss
Experts say that real estate is the steadiest way to build wealth in America. And yet, African Americans continue to be displaced from their homes and land. Join FPR, the Howard University School of Law, and the Howard University School of Business for an event on January 29th to examine the critical topic of black property loss as a key barrier to building generational wealth.
Additional event details, as well as an RSVP link, are available here.
What We're Reading
"How to Track President Trump" - The New York Times
Stuart A. Thompson and Charlie Warzel analyze how location data can compromise U.S. national security. Through examination of a dataset with over 50 billion smartphone location pings, the Times reporters were able to track the location of President Trump and his entourage. The more nefarious consequences of digital tracking keep on making headlines, and with good reason. Yet we continue to believe that location data can be used for good as well, for example, by helping marginalized individuals prove where they live.
Nellie Peyton explores the rental market in N'Djamena, Chad. Rents rival those of New York and London in this landlocked capital, as landlords look to take advantage of the large expat population. But skyrocketing rents unsurprisingly place tremendous financial and social burdens on local residents. A reminder that affordable housing issues are increasingly present around the globe—even in the Sahel.
Juan Pablo Garnham writes about the growing homelessness problem in rural Texas. Not only are the homeless more difficult to track in small towns, but social services struggle to obtain necessary funding and resources. Large urban centers, such as Houston, Dallas, and Austin, receive most of the attention. We're beginning to think more about homelessness, especially within the context of housing instability and displacement. This article is a stark example that such issues also exist outside of the big cities.
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 America by continuing the quest to realize our nation's highest ideals. Read the rest of our story, or see what we've been doing recently in our latest Annual Report.
The Future of Property Rights Program at New America focuses on bringing together technologists and policymakers to help solve land and property rights challenges around the world.
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