Dear Readers,
Last week marked the fifth-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which killed more than 1,600 people and
flooded 80 percent of New Orleans. From our 2009 issue of Residential Contractor magazine, we covered an
article on Brad Pitt's Make It Right foundation, which will help build 150 LEED-Platinum homes. Today, Make
It Right has completed nearly 50 homes, bringing more than 200 people home to New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward.
In our launch issue of American Infrastructure, then-Mayor Ray Nagin wrote our first city profile on what
the city was doing to rebuild its city's infrastructure, from flooded streets and public safety to rebuilding
communities and providing opportunities for public youth.
For those of you nearby, I encourage you to get involved with different organizations, such as Make It Right
and the "Fifty for Five" campaign and others, to help rebuild the Gulf area.
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Builder and Developer August 2010 Issue
Builder and Developer August 2010 Issue
The August issue of Builder and Developer magazine is now available online!
This issue covers green communities, including single-family and
multifamily housing. Search the online issue by using keywords to find
advertisers and to link directly to their websites. Click on the cover to
view the entire August issue.
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Hurrincane Katrina Fifth Anniversary: Ways to Help
with On-going Rebuilding Efforts
USA Today
In honor of Hurricane
Katrina's fifth-year anniversary this Sunday, we'll be sharing several "hero"
stories here in Kindness next week. Be sure to share yours! We wanted to
additionally highlight several ways you can still get engaged and help out with
rebuilding efforts that continue today.
New-Home Sales Fall to Record Low in July
NAHB
Sales of newly built,
single-family homes declined 12.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate
of 276,000 units in July, according to data released by the U.S. Commerce
Department today. This was the lowest sales rate for new homes on record.
"Today's report, though not unexpected, is disappointing in view of the
improvement in sales activity that we saw in June," said Bob Jones, chairman of
the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder from
Bloomfield Hills, Mich.
Report: HUD wastes money on energy-guzzling homes
USA
Today
The U.S. government is
wasting $1 billion annually in utility costs, because it has failed to take
inexpensive steps to make homes for poor families more energy-efficient, a new
report says. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development could save
one-fifth of the $5 billion-plus it spends each year on utilities for public
housing and subsidized rentals by better insulating them and installing more
efficient appliances, according to the report by the National Consumer Law
Center (NCLC), a non-profit group that advocates for low-income people.
11 million owe more than their homes are worth
Inman News
An estimated 11 million U.S.
homeowners owed more on their mortgages than their homes were worth at the end
of June, according to a new report from data aggregator CoreLogic. While the
number of homes underwater actually declined by about 200,000 from an estimated
11.2 million in March, the biggest driver of that improvement was foreclosures,
rather than price increases, CoreLogic said.
California foreclosure bill is losing steam
San Francisco Chronicle
A state legislative effort to
save homeowners from foreclosure that once seemed to enjoy broad support is
close to failing in the wake of an intense banking industry lobbying effort in
Sacramento. SB1275 would require lenders to provide homeowners with a fully
considered decision on a loan modification prior to starting foreclosure.
General Electric Stays Cool Under Pressure Keeping
Up with Air Conditioner Demand, During One of the Hottest Summers on Record
Business Wire
In one of the warmest years
on record in the United States, and the hottest year on record globally,
appliance manufacturers have had to break a sweat to meet soaring demand for
room air conditioners (RAC).
Storrs senior housing gets $1.7M from HUD
Hartford
Business
Juniper Hill Village in
Storrs is getting $1.7 million in federal aid for an energy upgrade to the
100-unit assisted senior housing complex, officials say. The federal Department
of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Green Retrofit Program says it chose
Juniper Hill and 65 other grant recipients from a pool of 770 applicants,
according to Congressman Joe Courtney, who announced the award.
Housing Starts Up in July in California
CBIA
According to statistics compiled by the Construction Industry Research Board (CIRB),
permits were pulled for 4,165 total housing units in July, up 35 percent from
the same month a year ago but down 10 percent from June. Permits for
single-family homes totaled 1,951, down 9 percent from July 2009 and down 31
percent from the previous month. Multifamily permits totaled 2,214, up 134
percent from a year ago and up 25 percent from June.
Clean Energy Alliance Established in California
Sustainable Business
An alliance of California
business, labor, environmental, and community leaders have joined together to
put forth The California Apollo Program--a comprehensive strategy for creating
clean energy jobs in California.
CBIA Still Taking Comments on CALGreen Guidebook
CBIA
CBIA is continuing to take comments and questions for a guide to the California
Green Building Standards Code (CALGreen), prepared by the Department of Housing
and Community Development's Division of Codes and Standards. This guidebook is
updated over time and aims to provide commentary, background, questions and
answers, as well as provide some helpful tools for the code user.
Struggling seniors being saddled with 40-year
mortgages
The Seattle Times
... More than 50 percent of
the 390,000 mortgages already permanently modified through the federal
government's Making Home Affordable Program have lengthened loan terms -- in
most cases extended from 30 years to 40 years, according to lenders and federal
reports. Just six months earlier, in January, only 42 percent of the loans
modified at that point had been similarly lengthened.
Number of underwater mortgages in US fell in 2Q
The Seattle Times
Foreclosures are helping to
thin the ranks of U.S. homes with mortgages that exceed what the properties are
worth, new data shows. Real estate data provider CoreLogic said Thursday there
were 11 million homes with so-called underwater mortgages at the end of June.
That's down from 11.2 million at the end of March and represents the second
consecutive quarterly decline. The number of underwater mortgages typically
rises when home prices are falling.
Third Uvic Building Achieves Gold Sustainability Standard
PR News wire
Brackenbox has built a reputation as a Chicago demolition contractor that offers
prompt, courteous, and professional demolition services, including concrete
removal and pool removal. Whether you need to demolish a house, garage, or other
building, call Brackenbox today to receive an estimate for the cost of
demolition.
Green Jobs Ready
The BlueGreen Alliance, a
leading partnership of environmental organizations and labor unions, has
embarked on a national 30-city clean power bus tour to urge the U.S. Senate to
support legislation aimed at saving and creating green energy jobs and growing
the renewable energy economy.
The New York Times
Richard Rosen, a senior
fellow at the Tellus Institute in Boston, which charts scenarios for human
development in this century, took issue with some of the points made by Bill
Gates in the Technology Review interview explored here earlier this week.
Home refinancing demand up, rates hit new lows
Reuters
Mortgage applications
rose last week as record low rates lifted demand for home refinancing loans to
its highest level in over 15 months, a development that could provide a
much-needed jolt to the economy. Home loan refinancing puts extra cash into
consumers' hands that they can save, use to pay off existing debt or funnel into
the economy through extra spending.
Toll Brothers Share Rise Leads Buildes After
Surprise Profit
Bloomberg
Toll Brothers, Inc.
the largest U.S. luxury homebuilder, rose the most in three months after
unexpectedly reporting its first quarterly profit since 2007.
Single-Family Homebuilding Up Slightly
Orange County Register
Construction of new houses in
Orange County is up this year following two of the slowest years for builders on
record, new figures from the Construction Industry Research Board show. Building
permits for single-family homes increased 24% during the first seven months of
the year.
Senior housing set to surge in county
The
Columbian
Clark County's older set
-- baby boomers and their parents -- are the targeted market for a slate of new
senior communities proposed from east Vancouver northward to the Salmon Creek
area. More than $30 million worth of construction will add 172 senior living
units and a 20-bed hospice center to four separate communities that are being
developed by public and private entities.
Metro-area home sales down 42% last month
Star
Tribune
Home sales plummeted 42
percent in the Twin Cities area last month, the sharpest year-to-year decline
among 20 metropolitan areas surveyed by the National Association of Realtors.
Nationwide, the number of homes sold in July dropped 26 percent compared with
2009, reaching their lowest level in more than a decade.
StarTribune.com
Like many neighborhoods hit hard
by the housing bust, an unfinished townhouse development in Lakeville suffers
from too many empty lots and not enough homeowners.
Business Wire
Florida Power & Light
Company /
changed the Space Coast skyline this morning by demolishing the most
visible structures at its 42-acre, 45-year-old Cape Canaveral Power Plant, as it
prepares to build the Cape Canaveral Next Generation Clean Energy Center, which
will open in 2013.
Housing project is a green model
The Honolulu
Star-Advertiser
...green technology has been
applied to an entire affordable housing community. Although the federal
Department of Energy has invested heavily in net-zero housing programs, much of
the pricey technology remains out of reach for families with lower incomes.
"It's not just about building LEED Platinum homes," Mills said. "It's about
building them affordably."
U.S. examines private sector's role in ensuring
affordable housing
The Washington
Post
The Obama administration
is grappling over how much to force private lenders to pay for apartments and
homes for the poor as it presses ahead with a major overhaul of the government's
housing policy, officials said. The question is among the thorniest facing the
administration as it tries to build consensus around a new system that would
ensure ordinary Americans have the financing they need for their homes without
the government backing nearly every mortgage, as it is doing today.
Statesman Journal
The City of Independence has been looking at the
unfinished Independence Station across from city hall a bit more closely of
late.
The touted LEED Platinum building has been in various stages of construction for
more than 5 years, with very little progress inside this past year. That by
itself is a concern, but there is another matter of system development charges.
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www.safetyboot.com |
