homes Archives - The Florida Capital Star

Commentary: Kamala Harris’ War on Housing

September 12, 2024 American Greatness

As Kamala Harris campaigns to become the most powerful person in the world, her detractors claim, among other things, that she has no idea how to manage the economy. She has certainly demonstrated that with her recent pronouncements. Even her usual supporters have been critical of her economic policy suggestions. Price controls on groceries. $25,000 grants for first-time homebuyers. A tax on unrealized capital gains. But while Harris backpedals from some of her most economically illiterate schemes, it’s only to attract more votes. Don’t be fooled. She hasn’t changed.

To demonstrate Harris’s long-standing record of waging economic war on productive citizens, consider her actions while serving as California’s Attorney General. She used that office to support policies that made homes unaffordable. Those policies roll out from California and infect the rest of the country.

California City Bans Smoking at Many Homes

September 1, 2024 The Center Square

The City of Carlsbad near San Diego, banned smoking from multifamily buildings with three or more units to reduce risk of secondhand smoke. The one city councilmember to vote against the measure called it an overreach, saying landlords and property managers should be able to make their own choices about their properties.

The ordinance bans smoking and vaping of tobacco and cannabis products both inside and outside buildings, including common areas, with use only permissible in designated smoking zones. The bill does not generally apply to single-family homes, though it does apply to townhomes, which tend not to share air systems with neighboring units.

Affluent Chicago Suburb Proposes Allowing Illegals to Live with Residents

January 25, 2024 Florida Capital Star Staff

In Illinois, a lawmaker has proposed that residents of a wealthy suburb outside Chicago should be allowed to host illegal aliens in their homes.

According to Fox News, Councilman Josh McBroom (D-Ill.) of Naperville, Illinois made the proposal at a city council meeting last week, declaring that “I do know that there’s a lot of people that do care, and I think we live in a compassionate community, so before we go down the road of, you know, following suit on some of these other cities are taking action on, my idea would be, let’s find out, let’s find out who’s willing to help.”

Mortgage Rates Soar to Highest Point in 23 Years as Americans Struggle to Buy Homes

October 29, 2023October 28, 2023 Florida Capital Star Staff

Mortgage rates have continued to rise for the seventh straight week, reaching their highest point in over 23 years, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).

The average 30-year mortgage rate for Americans reached 7.9% on Wednesday, up from 7.7% just one week ago, the highest point since September 2000, according to a press release from the MBA. Mortgage applications sank even further following the high rates, with application volume declining 1% from the previous week when seasonally adjusted, the lowest weekly pace since 1995.

Group Re-Introduces Bill to Help Teachers, First Responders Buy Homes

May 15, 2023 The Center Square

A bipartisan group will try again to pass a bill to help teachers and first-responders buy homes in the communities they serve.

U.S. Sens. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga.; Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., reintroduced the Homes for Every Local Protector Educator and Responder (HELPER) Act. The bill would create a first-time homebuyer loan program under the Federal Housing Administration for teachers and first responders who have served at least four years.

Report Finds $860 Million Lost in Homes Seized by Government

March 6, 2023 The Center Square

Local governments or lienholders have taken more than 8,950 homes with more than $860 million in equity from 2014 to 2021 under laws that allow them to seize properties for unpaid property taxes, according to a new report.

Pacific Legal Foundation, which is working to ban the practice, found that taking property to pay property tax debts can be ruinous for people with small tax debts.

Congress Addresses Private Equity, Corporations’ ‘Predatory Purchasing’ of Homes as Americans Struggle with Rising Prices

June 30, 2022June 29, 2022 The Center Square

Americans are finding it increasingly difficult to purchase an affordable home as large investors increase their market share. The House Financial Services Committee held a hearing Tuesday to address private equity ownership of single-family rentals and the impact it’s having on average Americans.

“Today’s hearing will examine troubling issues regarding the mass predatory purchasing of single-family homes by private equity firms,” said Rep. Al Green, D-Texas.

Biden Administration Green-Lights Multiple Solar Projects to Power 274,000 Homes

December 27, 2021 Admin

The Biden administration approved two solar projects, and it is nearing approval of a third, that will power hundreds of thousands of homes in California.

Construction of the Arica and Victory Pass solar projects — the two that received administration approval — will begin immediately on a large swath of land in Riverside County, California, the Department of the Interior (DOI) announced on Tuesday. Together, the projects will cost $689 million, be able to produce 465 megawatts of electricity, store 400 megawatts of energy and power 132,000 homes.

Oberon, the third solar project mentioned in the announcement, would be built on 2,700 acres of public lands in Riverside County if approved, according to DOI. The project would generate 500 megawatts of electricity and power an additional 142,000 households.

California Spent $13 Million to Guard 120 Empty Homes

July 13, 2021July 12, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

The state government of California has been revealed to have spent $13 million on providing security for 120 empty houses for five months, even as a homeless crisis ravaged the state, Fox News reports.

In a report broken by local outlet Fox 11, the California Department of Transportation (CalTrans) paid $9 million to the highway patrol from November 2020 to April 2021, and gave another $4 million to a private security firm over the same period, all for the purpose of protecting the vacant houses in Pasadena.

In a statement addressing the report, CalTrans said that the houses had been purchased by the government 60 years ago, when there were plans for a change in the local infrastructure by connecting the 710 freeway to the 210. However, that project “is no longer moving forward,” the government statement declared.

Stacey Abrams Purchased Two Homes Valued at $1.4 Million After Reporting Massive Debts in 2018

July 3, 2021July 2, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

Former Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams purchased two homes worth a combined $1.4 million following her failed 2018 bid to lead the state, public records reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation show.

Abrams purchased the homes despite reporting in a financial disclosure in early 2018 during her gubernatorial campaign that she owed the IRS $54,000 in back taxes on top of $174,000 in credit card and student loan debt.

Abrams purchased a 3,300 square foot home in Stone Mountain, Georgia, for $370,000 in September 2019, according to Nexis real estate records. The home is now worth $425,000, according to Redfin.