Am I Poor Now?

A report from the Baltimore Banner in Maryland. “Mass firings. Job uncertainty. Bigger workloads. A demand to list accomplishments. Stress hives. Borrowing from retirement funds. The Trump administration’s executive orders aimed at the federal workforce have rapidly transformed many lives. National Cancer Institute • Employee of nine years: I am the primary wage earner for my family. I am very grateful that my husband decided to work part-time and care for all three of our children until they reached preschool. Working remotely for the government has been life-changing for us. At first, I was disappointed to hear about the back-to-work order because my life would be upended for little to no reason. My boss was terminated. Rumors are swirling about who might be next. I have lost so much productivity staring into space, wondering what I’ll do if I lose my job and can’t pay my mortgage or gas and electric bill.”

From KHSB. “Nationwide federal downsizing has trickled down to Manhattan, Kansas. Of around 2,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture employees who were laid off across the country, dozens were workers at two separate agricultural research and prevention facilities in the Little Apple. Cole Peterson, a probationary worker, lost his job unexpectedly. With a mortgage on a brand new house and twins on the way, the Petersons have no other choice but to keep moving forward. Peterson has already appealed and applied to 20 jobs but has not heard back. ‘I’m worried that she’s going to possibly miscarry because of the stress that it’s putting on her,’ Peterson said of his wife. The Peterson family’s worst nightmare is having to foreclose on their dream house and being forced out of Manhattan. ‘It’s just, it’s not right. It shouldn’t happen this way,’ Peterson said.”

From Fox 13 Tampa Bay. “A Florida lawmaker has filed a bill that would strip condo associations of access to state-run Citizens Property Insurance if they don’t comply with new building safety laws. Republican State Rep. Vicki Lopez of Miami is proposing consequences, including kicking non-compliant buildings off their Citizens coverage. ‘We’re not in the business of bailing people out who did not do the right thing from the get-go. In addition to that, well, because it’s your tax money, by the way. It’d be you bailing them out,’ Lopez said during a recent summit for the Miami Association of Realtors.”

“Some owners have even said they’ve been hit with five or six-figure assessments. Lopez and other supporters of her bill, though, say those residents have options, like borrowing against the equity in their home or taking advantage of Miami-Dade’s interest-free loan program specifically set up to help with assessment fees.”

The Express News in Texas. “Home sales in the San Antonio area edged up in 2024 as buyers got used to high mortgage rates, found more properties to choose from and capitalized on financial incentives offered by builders. It was still less than in 2020, 2021 and 2022, when plummeting mortgage rates and booming demand from pandemic-era remote work drove up sales. But last year’s total was up 1.9% from 2019, an indication the market is returning to earth. Builders are trying to move their inventory and lure buyers with rate buy-downs and other financing perks. For example, Lennar Corp., one of the most active builders in San Antonio, recently touted a fixed Fair Housing Administration rate of 3.99%, up to $5,000 for closing costs, price reductions of up to $25,000 and refrigerators for select homes in the area.”

“‘It was just a far better deal for the consumer,’ said Andrew Barlowe, a real estate agent in San Antonio, referring to new homes for sale in 2024. ‘There’s much more existing inventory sitting on the market. But it’s with good reason — what the builders were able to offer was a drastic difference in value for consumers.'”

KOAA in Colorado. “Home buyers and home builders in El Paso County are feeling the pinch right now. The Pikes Peak Housing Network reports that fewer homes are available that people can afford to buy. Although over $700,000 homes make up more than a third of new construction in El Paso County, only 13% of households can afford them. ‘We are making less money now than we’ve ever had,’ said Mark Long, Managing Director of Vanguard Homes. Long says building homes has not been easy. ‘The cost of everything went up,’ said Long. ‘Our houses are shrinking somewhat… really making them smaller is the most available way to reduce the price,’ said Long.”

The Santa Cruz Sentinel in California. “Our downtown is clearly in trouble. Lots of empty stores … lots not doing so well. I’m doing OK, not great. Other towns also suffering, first from the malls, then from Costco, then Amazon dealt a real gut punch. Occasionally someone will tell me they don’t like coming downtown because of what they call ‘the element.’ In my 32 years in business I have never had a difficult encounter with a street dweller … not even panhandling very often. But it is painful to see folks walking around or living in doorways with all their belongings. I don’t think camping should be allowed in city limits, which would encourage folks to seek housing and us to provide it.”

From Cal Matters. “All across California, temporary homeless shelters have become the foundation of taxpayer-funded efforts to get people off the street and back into housing. Our new investigation found that shelters have instead turned into housing purgatory. They’re a mess — dangerous, chaotic and ultimately ineffective at finding people housing. More shelters does not equal more housing. We found that fewer than 1 in 4 people entering shelters have moved onto a permanent home. On top of that, internal records reveal allegations of shelter mismanagement, abuse and thousands of previously unreported deaths. Catherine Moore, former shelter resident: ‘The shelter is a volunteer jail.’ Dennis Culhane, leading policy expert: ‘It doesn’t work, and it never has.’ Holly Herring, shelter worker who faced homelessness herself: ‘I know that it is safer and more dignified for me to sleep in my car than it is in a shelter.'”

“In spring 2017, I became homeless. I had been living in Orange for several months while I was working for a temp agency. But in March I had to move since the house I was living in got sold, and I sought refuge near the Santa Ana riverbed. Over the course of the next 10 months, I made friendships, got into fights, witnessed police misconduct and the gutlessness of politicians. There was cruelty that the homeless inflicted on each other, including abusive relationships, rumor-mongering and bullying. Two quotes stuck in my mind when the riverbed was eventually cleared in 2018: One, by Judge Carter as he visited the riverbed for one last time, saying, ‘Everyone will receive housing.’ Then he waved to the crowd and was gone.”

“The other quote came from then-Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do, as the homeless were transitioning from 30-day motels into shelters. ‘If people are not ready for housing, the housing we provide them will become crack houses,’ he said. This past summer, Do plead guilty to embezzling $13 million from a program to feed elderly Vietnamese people. As for Carter’s quote, he should have said ‘Hardly anyone will get housing,’ because that is the reality of it today. Frankly, why house them? The shelter system in place today is designed to isolate, depress, infantilize and frustrate those who are unlucky enough to get in them. That’s right, I said unlucky enough.”

CBC News in Canada. “Winnipeg’s North End is having a tough time with building fires, particularly at historic and/or vacant buildings, says Michael Redhead Champagne, a longtime community activist. ‘We are regularly dealing with older buildings that are going up in flames, and it just feels constant,’ he told guest host Margaux Watt during a Tuesday interview with CBC Manitoba’s Information Radio. In 2023, the city had a record 156 fires at vacant properties — a 38 per cent increase from the previous year. The city recorded 114 vacant building fires in the first half of 2024. Mary Burton, who has lived in the North End on and off her entire life, says while arson is a possibility behind the recent fires, she believes poverty and housing insecurity are also factors. ‘There are a lot of squatters in these vacant buildings, and they’re just trying to stay warm,’ she said. ‘There’s no electricity, so they start a fire, and then it gets out of control.'”

Domain News in Australia. “Sydney’s property market downturn is set to be shorter than previous downturns after this week’s cut to interest rates, experts said. Property prices have been falling since October, but the Reserve Bank’s cut to the cash rate to 4.1 per cent on Tuesday will let buyers borrow more money, boost confidence and stabilise the market, leaving Sydney house prices unaffordable. So far, this is a faster pace than the more gradual 2017 to 2019 downturn, in which values had declined 13 per cent by 23 months after their peak. The 2022 to 2023 downturn was sharper than both – the steepest in a generation – with a decline of 12.4 per cent in only 12 months from its peak.”

“Software engineer Nakul Bhargava and his wife Vaishali relocated to Sydney from Kansas City in the United States last year, and are house hunting while they rent a three-bedroom townhouse in Parramatta for $880 a week. ‘The challenge in house hunting is infrastructure and affordability. Am I getting the amenities that I’m paying for? We are literally questioning our decision. Did we make the right move in relocating to Australia?’ The couple were priced out of the northern beaches and eastern suburbs and are now considering areas of western Sydney such as Parramatta, Schofields and Marsden Park. Bhargava has cut back on eating out and orders one drink with meals. He asked, ‘Am I poor now?'”

The Bangkok Post in Thailand. “The government should extend property measures and relax loan-to-value (LTV) limits for second- and third-time buyers, as domestic demand is expected to remain weak in 2025, according to developers and consultants. Nuttaphong Kunakornwong, chief executive of SET-listed developer SC Asset Corporation, said negative factors from last year continue to weigh on domestic housing demand this year. ‘Homebuyers with purchasing power are becoming more cautious, while financial institutions are tightening their criteria for mortgages,’ he said. Most condo transfers were from presales made two years ago, with demand partly driven by foreign buyers, said said Chaiyan Charakarul, chairman of mid-sized developer Lalin Property Plc.”

“Artitaya Kasemlawan, head of residential sales at consultancy CBRE Thailand, said potential homebuyers faced difficulties obtaining mortgages, contributing to lower sales and transfer volumes last year. According to CBRE Research, the number of unsold low-rise housing units in Greater Bangkok has increased annually, rising 16% in 2019, 3.9% in 2020, 4.8% in 2021, 5.7% in 2022, 4.9% in 2023 and 4.8% in 2024, tallying 155,000 units. Relaxing LTV limits for those buying a second or third residence could help stimulate demand in the upper-end segment, where buyers often acquire additional properties based on proximity to their children’s school or a new workplace, said Mr Nuttaphong. ‘The LTV limits are intended to prevent speculation, but now there are no speculators in the residential market,’ he said.”

From Forbes. “SM Prime Holdings—controlled by the family of the late retail billionaire Henry Sy Sr.—will spend 100 billion pesos ($1.7 billion) this year to expand its property footprint across the Philippines. SM Prime will spend 67 billion pesos of the capital expenditures, or about two thirds of the total, on residential projects and master planned communities outside of the Metro Manila area, where developers are sitting on thousands of unsold condominium units.”

“There are about 74,000 unsold apartments—valued at least 158 billion pesos and the highest inventory in eight years—in the National Capital Region, according to Joey Bondoc, an analyst at property consultancy Colliers Philippines. The glut in Metro Manila—which will take about eight years to clear—has been building up since the pandemic due to the exit of Philippine offshore gaming operators and elevated interest rates, according to Bondoc. Personal income and remittances also haven’t risen as fast as condo prices, added.”