Dear friend,

Welcome to Frontier, the monthly newsletter from the Future of Land and Housing Program at New America. 

🔊 Please be sure to follow us on Twitter as we expand our social media presence!

Here's what we've been up to:

What We're Doing

Report Out Today—What Can Court Data Actually Tell Us About Evictions?

Evictions have become one of the most visible signs of America's housing crisis. Beyond the removal of a tenant from their home, evictions have lasting and negative consequences on housing and economic stability, health, and other indicators of well-being. And yet, our knowledge of evictions across the U.S. is incomplete: we often know little about who’s being evicted and what policies are most effective in helping prevent displacement. 

In our latest report, What Can Court Data Actually Tell Us About Evictions?, senior policy analyst Sabiha Zainulbhai explores the primary data source of evictions in the U.S.—court records from eviction lawsuits—and sheds light on what this data can tell us about displacement, and, just as importantly, what it can’t tell us.

Eviction data quality and availability varies widely across the United States. But opportunities exist to move towards more accessible, standardized, and reliable eviction data, all to help improve research, advocacy, and policy that ultimately increases housing security for every community.

You can read the full report here.

Here’s How the U.S. Can Build Climate-Resilient Housing

By 2100, some scientists predict that sea-level rise could force over 13 million Americans to permanently leave their homes. And both coastal and inland communities will be increasingly threatened by climate impacts such as more powerful and frequent storms, floods, and wildfires. But there are bold and proactive public policies that can bolster U.S. housing security in the face of the climate crisis.

As part of The Thread's “Climate Changes Everything” edition, FLH's Emma Maniere charts the program’s work at the intersection of housing security and climate change. From reformed managed retreat  and rolling easements to life estates and climate havens, the U.S. needs innovative policy action now to ensure that even the most vulnerable households in the country adapt, remain resilient, and even thrive amid climate change.

Check out Emma’s article here.

What We're Reading

FLH staff share what has stood out to them lately on land, housing, and property rights in the U.S. and internationally.

Yuliya Panfil

As tiger count grows, India’s Indigenous demand land rights: This article from the Associated Press spotlights a tension inside the race to conserve biodiversity around the planet: are conservation efforts coming at the expense of human habitats? In India, Indigenous populations are claiming that tiger conservation efforts are displacing them from their ancestral forests. In response, members of several Indigenous groups have set up the Nagarahole Adivasi Forest Rights Establishment Committee to protest evictions from their ancestral lands and fight for a voice in how forests are managed. Research shows that Indigenous peoples are best equipped to conserve forests, and yet conservation efforts globally continue to displace Indigenous peoples from their lands. How do we move towards a model of stewardship, in which nature and humans are not viewed as separate and competing entities, but rather as partners in saving our planet?

Tim Robustelli

Japan Has Millions of Empty Houses. Want to Buy One for $25,000?: A shrinking population is leading to millions of vacant houses in suburban and rural Japan. Known as akiya, these homes are sometimes left behind without an heir or are neglected and abandoned by the previous owner’s family. It’s estimated that there are more than 10 million akiya in Japan, comprising over 15 percent of the country’s housing stock. Physical and financial hazards, many local governments are pushing for the sale of akiya, and some are even levying taxes for neglect or vacancies. At the same time, more buyers (including foreigners) are interested in leaving overcrowded cities and purchasing akiya at bargain prices. While some of these older homes require significant investment and renovations, new homeowners are also contributing to architectural and cultural conservation as well as rural revitalization. With millions of homes vacant across the U.S. for one reason or another, along with an ongoing housing affordability crisis, can American communities learn anything from Japan and its akiya?

Emma Maniere

HUD Excludes People With Convictions From Public Housing. Local Solutions Can Help.: From New Orleans to Providence, Rhode Island, fair housing advocates are finding mechanisms to counter local Public Housing Authorities’ (PHAs) abilities to discriminate against people with convictions. The median income for formerly incarcerated people is $10,090 per year, which itself would qualify many for public housing; however, criminal history is not a protected category under the Fair Housing Act, and many PHAs are permitted wide discretion to bar applications for ill-defined “safety” concerns. Due to a series of War on Drugs-era policies, people with convictions are almost ten times as likely to experience homelessness as the general public. Along with local changes that force PHAs to explicitly clarify screening criteria, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is expected to release new policies addressing these lingering disparities later this month.

Thoughts on our work or where we're headed? 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 land and housing rights challenges, both in the United States and internationally. Through our research and writing, convening, and collaboration with civic innovators worldwide, we strive to connect new constituencies, shed light on underreported issues, and implement creative approaches in the property rights space.

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