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New York 'worst apartment ever' video bewilders TikTok
New York (AFP) - It apparently costs $1,650 a month to rent but doesn't have a toilet or an oven: TikTok users are going crazy over a video captioned New York's "worst apartment ever." Its exact address is a mystery, and you won't find it listed on any rental sites, but that hasn't stopped a video of the tiny studio from being viewed 21 million times. The clip has gone viral since real estate agent Cameron Knowlton posted it on his New York City Realtor TikTok account last week. Captioned "Worst Apartment Ever NYC !!!," the video shows a single room with no bathroom, no stove, no freezer, one...
AFP
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Are robot-made 'printed' buildings a solution to Bay Area housing crisis?
In a cavernous warehouse near the Oakland Coliseum, a 3D printer extrudes a secret blend of minerals and plastic polymer that's hardened into a heavy stone-like form under ultraviolet light. The end result of that alchemy? A move-in-ready, robot-made modular home from technology startup Mighty Buildings. Backed by $30 million in venture capital, Mighty Buildings is following a classic Bay Area startup recipe: use technology to address a big problem and — it hopes — disrupt an existing industry. The company claims it will be able to make homes faster, cheaper and greener than traditional builde...
The Mercury News
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Chicago rents fell 12% in 2020. For renters, it ‘restores your faith in humanity.’ For landlords, ‘it’s a huge hit.’
CHICAGO — This summer, Marianna Harrison, 41, saw something unexpected on her lease renewal form. Rather than the annual hike in rent she’d received over the past 12 years for her one-bedroom apartment in the Bucktown neighborhood of Chicago, her rent for 2021 went down by $50. “That doesn’t seem like a lot, but honestly, to me, that is a lot,” Harrison said. “It adds up.” After the COVID-19 pandemic pummeled the film industry, Harrison lost work as a script supervisor. The decrease in rent will save her $600 in 2021, bringing her previous monthly rent of $1,200 to $1,150. And she’s not alone;...
Chicago Tribune
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Amazon pledges $2 billion to affordable housing
Amazon will direct $2 billion in loans and grants to secure affordable housing near three American cities where the company employs thousands of workers, the tech giant announced Wednesday. In a first step in the Puget Sound region, Amazon is promising $185.5 million, mostly in loans, to the King County Housing Authority to help buy affordable apartments in the region and keep the rents low. The Housing Authority will use an initial portion of that money to help fund its recent purchase of three Bellevue apartment buildings. Amazon will also direct about $382 million to a non-profit in Arlingt...
The Seattle Times
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Amazon commits $2 billion for affordable housing around hubs
Washington (AFP) - Amazon said Wednesday it was committing $2 billion to help create more affordable housing in the area around its second headquarters near the US capital and other hubs of the tech and retail giant. A new "housing equity fund" will make grants and below-market loans available for housing partners, public agencies, and minority-led organizations, according to Amazon, which has faced criticism over the impact of its new headquarters on housing. The company said the first tranche of $567 million will help create 1,300 affordable apartment homes available near Amazon’s new Arling...
AFP
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Are you thinking about time right now? For 'Black Futures' contributor Rasheedah Phillips, it's a lifelong pursuit.
PHILADELPHIA — Rasheedah Phillips has learned a lot of ways of looking at time. "Time is very subjective," explained Phillips, a Philadelphia-based Afrofuturist artist and researcher whose survey questions about time and memory are included in the new anthology "Black Futures," featuring the work of more than 100 esteemed Black creatives in the U.S. and abroad. "Time is very cultural," said Phillips, who is also a housing attorney at Community Legal Services, the founder of The AfroFuturist Affair community and the cofounder, with her partner Camae Ayewa, also known as the artist Moor Mother, ...
The Philadelphia Inquirer
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From ‘war workers’ to ‘Good Times,’ Jane Byrne and demolition: Timeline of Cabrini-Green
CHICAGO — Built over two decades starting in 1942, the story of the towers and row homes of Cabrini-Green have mirrored Chicago’s troubled history of grappling with racism and poverty. Here is how the story unfolded. Aug. 29, 1942: Mayor Edward J. Kelly dedicates the Frances Cabrini Rowhouses, the city’s first wartime housing project, at the intersection of Chestnut Street and Cambridge Avenue. The development is named after Mother Frances X. Cabrini, an Italian American nun, founder of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the first American citizen to be named a saint. Cons...
Chicago Tribune
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After deadly Columbia gas leak, Congress mandates detectors in public housing
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A provision included in the $900 billion COVID-19 relief bill signed by President Donald Trump this week will require carbon monoxide detectors in all federally subsidized housing. The new rules come nearly two years after two residents in Columbia's Allen Benedict Court housing project died from a gas leak there. The city's code enforcement later found 869 code violations at the property, including missing carbon monoxide detectors. An investigation from NBC News revealed that at least 13 public housing residents nationwide have died from carbon monoxide poisoning since 201...
The State (Columbia, S.C.)
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‘I moved in 10 days before Christmas. Oh my God.’ This housing program has helped a record number of families buy homes this year
CHICAGO – A home for Christmas. For years, Sonja Robinson wanted to move out of her three-bedroom apartment and buy a home where her three boys would have room to grow in Chicago. This month, the first grade teacher finally realized her dream. “I moved in 10 days before Christmas so I’m like, ‘Oh my God,’ ” Robinson said, laughing as she added that she has plenty of boxes to open beyond any presents. Robinson, 36, closed on the four-bedroom, red brick home in the Brainerd neighborhood on the South Side with the help of a Chicago Housing Authority program that has gotten more than 50 families i...
Chicago Tribune
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It’s time to rethink the single-family home as the American dream, author says
PHILADELPHIA — Housing today looks largely the same as it did in 1950, Diana Lind observes in her new book "Brave New Home: Our Future in Smarter, Simpler, Happier Housing." Many builders are still constructing 2,500-square-foot homes with two-car garages on tree-lined streets. But a lot has changed since the single-family house was, as Lind writes, “a practical response to the desire for more space and access to nature.” Today, average family size is smaller — just 3.14 people, and nearly a third of Americans live alone, her research found. Divorce hovers between 40% and 50%, and life expecta...
The Philadelphia Inquirer
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