Insights

Reinvestment Fund helped DCED develop its NSP plans by devising a data-driven method for prioritizing where funds should be spent within each county to increase the likelihood of market stability. This presentation shows how to use this in-depth analysis as well as the host of GIS data in www.policymap.com to better understand foreclosure and market dynamics. Presented at the 2009 PA Chapter of American Planning Association Annual Conference, “Investing in a Sustainable Future” by Ira Goldstein and Elizabeth Nash.

Presentation shared at the Wachovia Regional Foundation Grantee Conference. The presentation, given by Ira Goldstein, compares today’s economic environment to past years, highlighting unemployment rates, personal income, and median home purchase mortgage amounts.

Presentation by Ira Goldstein given at the “Reclaiming Vacant Properties: Building Leadership to Restore Communities” conference in Louisville, Kentucky. The session “Property Interventions and Restoring Neighborhood Confidence” looked at real life examples of neighborhood confidence-building strategies. Dr. Goldstein’s presentation focused on the West Oak Lane Neighborhood in Philadelphia.

Presentation by Ira Goldstein given at the “Philadelphia’s Vital Neighborhoods: Taking a Closer Look at Why Middle-Income Markets are Critical to Our City’s Future” convening hosted by Neighborhoods Now. The presentation offers an approach to understanding how to identify and deploy resources to the city of Philadelphia’s vital, middle-market neighborhoods in an effort to preserve the stability and enhance attractiveness to existing and new Philadelphia residents.

Ira Goldstein’s presentation shared at the Federal Reserve System’s Community Affairs Officers Conference held at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. The presentation was part of a panel discussion outlining the current challenges in stabilizing neighborhoods impacted by high foreclosure rates.

Ira Goldstein’s presentation at the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency’s Housing Forum. The session “The Road Ahead: Rental Housing Needs and Markets” looked at rental housing needs, population trends and examines new strategies that communities are implementing to leverage properties as assets. This presentation highlights PA population trends and the housing needs for different income levels.

Study of mortgage foreclosure filings in Maryland on behalf of the Baltimore Homeownership Preservation Coalition (BHPC). Led by Ira Goldstein, the study provides an in-depth look at the City of Baltimore, Montgomery County and Prince George’s County. A detailed executive summary is also available for download.

Presentation by Ira Goldstein at the National Governor’s Association Center for Best Practices Summit on Foreclosures and Housing Solutions.

Paper commissioned by Ohio State University’s Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity that explores the civil rights aspect of foreclosures. The paper draws from Reinvestment Fund’s work in Philadelphia and Baltimore, and looks at the role deregulation and the lack of federal law enforcement played in creating the subprime lending and mortgage foreclosure crisis.

Study examines whether (or the extent to which) there are economic reasons for the lack of supermarkets in distressed urban areas, such as location-dependent expense differences between urban and suburban locations. We also explore how various financing strategies help to mitigate those expense differences. Finally, we assess some of the impacts of supermarket development in urban and other underserved places.

Study of mortgage foreclosure filings in Newark, NJ for the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs. This report distills recent trends in mortgage origination, delinquency and foreclosures in Newark from a variety of data sources. It provides a context of changes in the local real estate market to assist policymakers design an appropriate set of responses to counter the adverse impacts of foreclosures in Newark.

An increase in the delinquency rate for all mortgages in the District of Columbia over 2007 have resulted in more home foreclosures. Foreclosures can have a negative imact on neighborhoods and the entire city. This study offers an overview of subprime lending; a look at subprime lending in DC; and recommendations for how DC can help current and future borrowers. The study was conducted for the Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking.

Study of mortgage foreclosures in New Jersey for the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs and the Ford Foundation. Our singular purpose was to add a measure of systematic and objective data analysis to the mortgage foreclosure problem facing New Jersey. As is often the case, by the time the study is complete, the problem is not what it was when the study began. That is uniquely true in this instance. The overall magnitude of the mortgage foreclosure problem, nationally and in New Jersey, has increased substantially over the last 18 months.

Detailed local case study of predatory lending that includes the analysis of complete mortgage and sale histories for 15,500 properties in the city of Philadelphia from 2000 to 2003 as well as interviews with a broad range of subject experts.

Funded by the Goldseker Foundation, this study looks at mortgage foreclosures in Baltimore, Maryland. The study looks at mortgage foreclosures over a five year period, describing causes and patterns that have emerged.

Study of mortgage foreclosure filings in Delaware for the State Bank Commissioner. The study provides a detailed analysis of trends, with an in-depth look at Kent, New Castle and Sussex counties in particular.

In-depth study of mortgage foreclosure filings in Pennsylvania. The study was conducted for the Pennsylvania Department of Banking, expanding on Reinvestment Fund’s analysis from 2004 of the foreclosure epidemic in the Poconos’ Monroe County.

Case study that examines the social and economic impacts of rental housing developed in a section of West Philadelphia by Neighborhood Restorations (NRLP), Reinvestment Fund’s largest affordable housing borrower.

Study for Housing Opportunities, Inc., with funding from The Heinz Endowments. This report seeks to answer critical questions regarding the low rates of African American homeownership in Southwestern Pennsylvania.

A report by the Building Industry Association of Philadelphia that proposes ten fixes to improve and streamline the development process in Philadelphia. The report aims to eliminate or change steps in the process that unnecessarily add to the cost of a home and otherwise deter developers from building or rehabilitating houses in the city.

Working paper on how some borrowers end up with subprime mortgages and the extent to which those loans serve the true financial needs of those borrowers.

Reinvestment Fund’s thorough analysis of foreclosures in Monroe County, PA’s second fastest growing county, provides the facts for State action on the crisis.

A follow-up to Flight or Fight, this agenda proposes three tangible state policy shifts that would have an immediate and significant impact on the region’s growth patterns.

Metropolitan Philadelphia is a place with extraordinary assets. It should be a region of choice, but it’s not. Our region has seen minimal population growth and alarmingly low job growth. What’s growing most rapidly is sprawl, and it’s hurting our region. It’s time to think differently and make some big, positive changes.

This report provides quantitative and qualitative data to forecast employer hiring needs in information technology and customer service occupations. It concludes that both these occupations cut across all industries and that the demand for these workers would continue based on favorable economic growth.

A course of action for rebuilding the Philadelphia region’s real estate market while seeking more regional activity around housing affordability.

An in-depth study of Pennsylvania’s housing market. Providing a basis for creating the State’s housing development strategy, the report focuses on the critical issues of community stability and public investment.