Dear friend,

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

Here's what we've been up to:

What We're Doing

Findings from Eviction Data Focus Groups

As we’ve written about extensively, the availability and quality of court eviction data varies across the U.S. and data is often inaccessible or in poor condition. As a result, local leaders face significant challenges in using this data to stem housing loss in their communities. We’ve previously recommended that the federal government provide funding and technical assistance to improve local access to eviction data, but what types of support, precisely, would be most useful?

To help answer this question, FLH conducted focus groups with local users of eviction data in seven different states, to better understand the barriers and facilitators in accessing and using eviction data, and what’s most needed.

Explore the key findings here and also via this Twitter thread.

Can California Plan for Equitable Growth in the Face of Climate Migration?

California is experiencing some of the first and worst impacts of climate-driven displacement and migration in the U.S., leading to significant economic, social, and environmental challenges. At the same time, municipalities have an opportunity to better understand and plan for the impacts of increased climate migration on their housing supply, jobs, and social infrastructure, before the problem gets even worse.

Earlier this month, New America, Northern California Grantmakers, and Smart Growth California convened a group of housing and climate experts to explore the strategies that local governments, non-profits, and community-based organizations in California can adopt right now to prepare for climate-driven migration and its impacts.

If you’re in California and are interested in collaborating, learning more about our work, or have any questions, feel free to reach out to FLH Senior Policy Analyst Tim Robustelli (robustelli@newamerica.org).

FLH Blog — How Do Americans Lose Their Homes?

From widespread foreclosures after the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis to sudden displacement after California wildfires and Florida hurricanes, it's estimated that 10 to 20 million Americans lose their homes every year.

These traumatic events all involve the loss of a home, but the way in which someone loses their home matters. Yet, not only do we know shockingly little about different forms of housing loss, but we have no standard definition of what constitutes housing loss.

In a blog post, FLH Intern Jacob Kepes explores possible ways to define housing loss, looks at what we do know about all the ways in which U.S. families experience housing loss—from evictions and foreclosures, to eminent domain, forced partition sales, and gentrification—and the major data gaps that keep us from knowing more.

Read Jacob’s blog post 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

The State of Fair Housing in Indiana - Who Owns Indy's Houses: A new report from the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana (FHCCI) details the impacts on Indianapolis of a trend we are seeing nationwide: out-of-state corporations buying up single-family homes, often for cash, and turning them into unaffordable and/or inhabitable rental properties. In Indianapolis, a city of nearly 900,000, corporate investors are buying thousands of single-family homes each year and turning them into rental properties. Overwhelmingly, these investors pay cash, edging out would-be homeowners who rely on mortgage loans to finance their purchases. Across the city, 55 percent of all single-family homes were purchased for cash last year, and out-of-state investors paid cash for 70 percent of their single-family home purchases. The result is decreasing housing stock and rapidly rising prices, particularly in parts of the city home to populations of color. (Out-of-state ownership is most prevalent in areas with the highest growing Black and Hispanic populations, and where homes are often the most affordable.) Large corporate investors are raising rents, ignoring code violations, and filing evictions at a much higher rate than rental owners in the rest of the city. We wonder: will city and state legislatures soon begin introducing laws to limit out-of-state property ownership? 

Sabiha Zainulbhai

Gen Z Can’t Afford the Rent: Over the last two decades, rent has grown 135 percent, while incomes have only increased by 77 percent. The result is that most of Gen Z–the generation born between the late 1990s and early 2010s–spend a significant amount of income on rent (far exceeding the 30 percent rule of thumb). In fact, more than half of Gen Z in a recent survey said they believed they would need to win the lottery in order to become a homeowner. This article shares the stories of Gen Z-ers of different ages, all across the country, and illustrates how the growing affordable housing crisis is impacting the housing security of an entire generation.   

Tim Robustelli

Hawaii residents fear losing Lahaina as fires make housing crisis worse: The devastating wildfires this month on Maui killed over 100 people and razed entire neighborhoods in the town of Lahaina. The disaster exacerbates an ongoing affordable housing crisis on the island, one of the most expensive places in the United States. Native Hawaiians and other long-time locals, including renters and low-wage service workers, were already being priced out by billionaires and real estate developers. Now, displaced persons are crowding into emergency shelters and doubling up with friends or family, and there is a very real threat of long-term displacement for thousands. And locals are voicing concerns about the coming decisions on how to rebuild and who will benefit. How can Hawaii—a place with limited space, high property values, soaring costs-of-living, and historical land grabs—recover so that its local communities come back more resilient in the face of climate change?

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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