India Today: Man clears job interview at Google but fails tenant interview in Bengaluru, here’s the full story. “A Google India employee posted on LinkedIn that a landlord didn’t accept him as a tenant because he worked for Google and thus would probably buy his own home one day.”
Berkeley News: New Berkeley Terner Center database gives ‘road map’ for local housing reform. “Local municipalities around the U.S. now have a road map to pursue housing reform through a first-of-its kind database created by the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley. It catalogs state incentives and programs that legislators can emulate to produce more local housing. As part of Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design, the Terner Center’s database sorts 144 pro-housing policies from 20 states by factors related to affordability and equity.”
Lifehacker: These Interactive Tools Reveal Your Home’s Future Flood, Heat, and Wind Risk. “The following three organizations use advanced technology and models to estimate the risk most homes have of flooding by taking climate change and sea-level rise into account. They’ve created free and user-friendly tools with the latest data to help you make informed decisions regarding your home’s risk, where to build or invest, how to prepare for future flooding, and how to adapt to the impacts of a changing climate.”
KATU: Bill would allow homeowner to remove racist, discriminatory language from Oregon deeds. “Oregon lawmakers are once again trying to make it easier for homeowners to remove racist language from their housing deeds…. House Bill 3294 directs counties to create an archive where the racist documents will be stored, but they would no longer be visible in the chain of title.”
University of Hawaii: New Oʻahu housing database to provide insight to residents, policymakers. “A public database listing all of Oʻahu’s subsidized and price-restricted housing units will be developed and maintained by the University of Hawaiʻi Economic Research Organization (UHERO) in partnership with the City and County of Honolulu.”
Stuff New Zealand: New website revealing how many properties landlords own is under investigation. “While the website… which launched on Wednesday, was using publicly available information, a number of concerns had been raised about it, and some landlords were concerned it would stir up resentment. On Friday, the New Zealand Privacy Foundation said it breached the law and ethics around privacy, and LINZ announced it was looking into the website.”
University of Washington: UW project has uncovered thousands of racially discriminatory housing covenants in Washington state – and it’s not done yet. “More than 40,000 property deeds containing racially discriminatory language have been uncovered in Western Washington by the Racial Restrictive Covenants Project, and director James Gregory and his team aren’t finished yet.”
Carnegie Mellon University: Making Meaningful Impact: Using Data Science for Social Good. “… the Baltimore City Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) is tasked with assessing 15,000 vacant homes to identify and remediate roof damage. The problem is complex, systemic and formidable. Enter the Data Science for Social Good (DSSG) Summer Fellowship at Carnegie Mellon University.”
PR Newswire: Zillow’s new AI-powered natural-language search is a first in real estate (PRESS RELEASE.) “Now home shoppers can enter phrases like ‘$700K homes in Charlotte with a backyard’ or ‘open house near me with four bedrooms’ directly into the Zillow search bar, rather than starting with a location and having to filter their way to the homes they want. They can also save their searches and have Zillow notify them when new qualifying listings come online.”
Lifehacker: How to Delete Your House’s Pictures From Sites Like Zillow, Redfin, and Realtor. “Our personal data shows up in so many public online spaces. But while there are ways to review and delete your data from social media profiles or even Google search, one place you may not think to check is your property’s listing on sites like Redfin, Zillow, or Realtor.com.”
Midlothian View: Planners use Google Maps to tell Edgehead cottage owner to remove new windows. “Gavin Hogg applied for retrospective planning permission after replacing four front windows of the house in Edgehead, Midlothian. But despite using the same timber materials to replace the windows, planners refused permission after looking at historic Google Map images which showed the design was different.”
Richmond Times-Dispatch: New database tracks Virginia eviction numbers. “The RVA Eviction Lab and the University of Virginia Equity Center have created the Virginia Evictor Catalog, which collects eviction data from courts. The databank is part of a partnership between the two organizations called the Virginia Housing Justice Atlas project.”
From Le Monde, and Google-Translated from French: Real estate: a new interactive map of rents in France. “A ratio of 1 to 6 between the rents charged in the most upscale neighborhoods of the Ile-de-France region and those of small towns in rural areas. This is revealed by the new rent map just put online on the website of the Ministry of Housing and Ecological Transition. This interactive tool provides the price per square meter, charges included, everywhere in France, for unfurnished houses and apartments in the private rental stock.”
University of Miami: Miami Affordability Project tool shows impacts of extreme heat. “At a launch event at HistoryMiami earlier this week, the Office of Civic and Community Engagement (CCE) at the University of Miami unveiled the Climate and Equity Mapping Platform (CAMP)… Among the tools included as part of CAMP is the newest iteration of CCE’s Miami Affordability Project (MAP), which offers users a powerful, data-driven mapping tool to identify areas of need for affordable housing and environmental justice investment.”
Oregon Public Broadcasting: PSU researchers track Oregon eviction data on new website. “Over 16,000 Oregon renters have had evictions filed against them this year. And in recent months, eviction filings have surpassed pre-pandemic levels. That’s according to ‘Evicted in Oregon,’ a new project led by Portland State University researchers who have been collecting court data on Oregon evictions and publishing it online.”
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