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Dear friend,
Welcome to Frontier, the monthly newsletter from the Future of Property Rights Program at New America. This month, we released a briefer series exploring the impacts of COVID-19 on property rights globally. We also previewed some of the research findings and storytelling from our forthcoming Displaced in America report, to be released September 9th. Here's what we've been up to:
What We're Doing
Land, Housing, and COVID-19
The public health and economic impacts of COVID-19 are well-known. But less documented are the various implications of the pandemic on the property rights of billions of people around the world.
In partnership with Land Portal, Landesa, LANDac, GiZ, and the Global Protection Cluster on Housing, Land, and Property, we published a series of briefs that spotlights a selection of these challenges, and provides suggestions for how they may be addressed.
The series is available here.
Displaced in America: A Preview
Even as our nation braces for a flood of housing loss as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, we know very little about these life-changing events. Why does housing loss occur? Who is most at risk? And where is forced displacement most acute?
Over the past year, FPR and our research partners have embarked on an ambitious project to visualize the scale and breadth of housing instability and displacement across the United States, and to tell the stories of communities impacted by these losses.
Our forthcoming Displaced in America report, to be released September 9th, will reveal our findings. In the meantime, we'd like to share a sneak peak of some of our findings and storytelling, available here.
Photo by: Peek Creative Collective
Featured In : "Across American Cities, Evictions Are Down" - Bloomberg CityLab
Across the country, eviction moratoria, rental assistance, and other tenant support programs funded through the CARES Act have helped countless families across the country remain in their homes, staving off the predicted tsunami of evictions. Kriston Capps features FPR's Yuliya Panfil and summer eviction research from our forthcoming Displaced in America report.
Yuliya notes that historic increases in evictions during the summer months threaten to overwhelm the system as COVID impacts exacerbate housing instability.
What We're Reading
In an interview with Thomas Sugure, director of metropolitan studies at New York University, Zack Stanton questions how America's changing suburbs will influence the upcoming election. The suburbs of the past are transforming as more non-white families move in, driving wealthier, whiter households further into the fringe of the hinterlands.
As this change occurs, we wonder if more families will forego urban life, and what that means for the future of property rights and homeownership across America?
"How Kenya's Indigenous Ogiek are Using Modern Technology to Validate their Land Rights" - Inter Press Service
With support from the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the Ogiek community in Kenya's Chepkitale National Reserve are mapping their land using participatory 3-Dimensional Modelling (P3DM), in hopes it will get the government to formally recognize their land claims. Isaiah Esipisu writes that this technology has been used successfully in other Ogiek communities in Kenya, providing hope that land claims in Chepkitale National Park will be validated.
We hope that the success of this technology can be used to support other indigenous groups fighting for recognition of their land claims around the world.
"UK infrastructure inadequate for climate emergency, experts warn" - The Guardian
Across Europe, heatwaves are impacting crops and threatening lives, and in the United Kingdom heavy rain was responsible for a train derailment in Scotland that killed three people last week. From buildings not designed for excessive heat to prolonged storms and flooding, climate change is wreaking havoc, and as Fiona Harvey writes, the UK's infrastructure is not prepared to withstand it.
We know that the UK is not alone; across the world countries are coming to grips with systems not designed to withstand extreme climate impacts. Just how much climate change will impact the future of property rights will only become more clear as impacts continue to worsen.
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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