Free Republic

It’s been two topsy-turvy years for Brownstone Shared Housing since the startup opened up its tiny bed “pods” for rent in San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood — without the necessary permits — in 2023. The startup’s 26 to 30-pod complex in Mint Plaza has withstood complaints from city officials, outlasted the threat of debilitating fees and, recently, avoided an eviction threat. All the while, Brownstone has rented beds to a rotating cast of tech startup founders, immigrants and other new-to-the-city characters willing to stay in barely private, 4-foot-tall boxes for $700 a month. And now, CEO James Stallworth is ramping up...

PRINCETON, Texas — Princeton is growing at the fastest rate in the nation, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. But just south of this Collin County city's limits, along a peninsula of Lavon Lake, lies a master-planned community of single-family homes that are, well, let's say not very "Texas sized," but becoming more popular. Miami-based builder Lennar announced in a press release it is bringing tiny homes – each at less than 700 square feet – to North Texas. The homes are available in a community called Tillage Farms. The two-story homes will start in the mid $100,000s, Lennar said....

In July 2025, the U.S. unemployment rate was at 4.2% — which, historically speaking, is rather low. But that doesn’t mean that all job seekers are thriving.An NBC News analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data finds that the unemployment rate among men ages 23 to 30 with a bachelor's degree has reached 6%. By comparison, the unemployment rate among women with a bachelor's degree in that same age range is 3.5%.During the pandemic, the term “she-cession” was created to illustrate just how unfavorable the economy was for working women at the time. Now, with many young men struggling to find...

Homebuyers are backing out of property purchases last-minute at a higher rate than ever recorded due to fears that a financial crash is imminent. Just four years ago, homebuyers were bidding up house prices and waiving inspections in order to quickly secure fast-selling properties. Today's buyers are moving slowly through the process — negotiating lower prices and obsessing over property details. And they are increasingly getting cold feet and backing out, even after signing contracts. In fact, 58,000 home-purchase agreements were canceled in July alone, according to data collected by Redfin. That's 15.3 percent of all homes that went under...

Sanctuary city residents are very upset that ICE is evicting illegal residents from their neighborhoods and business complexes without warning. More show notes. A lot of illegals working at car washes. More protesters finding out that walls work.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration may declare a national housing emergency this fall as the White House looks to highlight key issues for midterm campaign voters.“We’re trying to figure out what we can do, and we don’t want to step into the business of states, counties, and municipal governments,” Bessent told the Washington Examiner. “We may declare a national housing emergency in the fall.”Bessent said housing affordability would be a critical leg of Republicans’ 2026 midterm election platform. Bessent declined to list any specific actions the president may take, but he suggested that administration officials are directly...

YES‼️Section 8 Update: Donald Trump has directed HUD, the US Housing Department, to not only remove ALL non-citizens from Section 8 but to also remove mixed non-citizen families If there is an illegal in the home YOU WILL BE REMOVED “A full fledged audit of all residents in The United States for citizenship and will begin evicting families that are mixed status” “For example, if you are a parent who is an illegal immigrant but you receive section eight through your children for housing, you can be evicted. This is part of an audit Donald Trump has instructed to Scott...

The Trump administration is putting illegal aliens on notice: taxpayer-funded housing is for AMERICANS, not for those who broke the law to come here. On Friday, Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner announced that all Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) nationwide have 30 days to conduct audits verifying the legal status of every single tenant in Section 8 housing and other HUD-funded programs. The first housing authority to face scrutiny is Washington, D.C., where Turner confirmed that the DC Housing Authority has already been put on notice, according to Fox News. More than 3,000 PHAs across the nation are...

Three men have been arrested in Essex after violence erupted at the latest protest over housing asylum seekers at the Bell Hotel in Epping. Essex Police said three men were arrested on Friday on suspicion of violent disorder, assaulting a police officer and drink driving respectively.The protest coincided with the result of a legal challenge by the government, which successfully overturned a temporary injunction which would have blocked asylum seekers from being housed at the hotel. Despite the Court of Appeal decision, at least 13 other councils are considering pressing ahead with legal action over the use of asylum hotels...

**SNIP** Pulte discovered that in April 2021, Cook entered a 15-year mortgage for a condominium in Cambridge, Mass., for $361,000, and attested to the lender that the property would serve as a “second home.” Eight months later, Cook signed a government ethics form and disclosed that the Cambridge property was being used as an “investment/rental property,” according to the Trump administration official. In four subsequent disclosures, between 2022 and 2025, Cook continued to list her condo as a rental property and not as her “second home.” “Second homes receive lower mortgage costs than investment properties, because investment properties are inherently...

Canandaigua, N.Y. — A woman is charged with first-degree identity theft for a months-long scheme, according to the Ontario County Sheriff's Office. Nichelle Beale, 48, of Canandaigua, used another person's identity to rent a unit from Candlewood Apartments on County Road 28 from May 1 through Aug. 13, 2025, the sheriff's office said. She also failed to pay rent and utilities, stealing more than $6,000 worth of service from the complex. The sheriff's office said Beale was arrested Monday and taken to Ontario County Jail, where she remains in custody as she awaits arraignment in CAP court.

Geneva homeowners can now apply for repair funds through a city program that forgives loans after five years, according to the Finger Lakes Times. Geneva homeowners can now apply for repair funds through a city program that forgives loans after five years, according to the Finger Lakes Times.

Home prices are falling in half of the nation's largest markets, a new report reveals —sparking fears that a housing crash is looming. Sellers are slashing prices at record rates to to lure hesitant buyers put off by soaring mortgage rates and economic uncertainty. In July alone, 27.4 percent of listings had a price cut — the highest rate ever recorded in Zillow's monthly data going back to 2018. It helped push prices down year-over-year in 25 of the 50 largest US cities. Most were in the South and West. Florida and Texas, in particular, are home to former boomtowns...

All 95 major housing markets in the world have at least one thing in common: they’re unaffordable. That’s according to a May study by the Chapman University Center for Demographics and Policy that compared the median home price to median incomes of 95 housing markets in the third quarter of 2024. Markets were considered “affordable” if their median home price was no more than three times the area’s median annual income. Of the markets analyzed, 12 were classified as “impossibly unaffordable,” and not a single one was deemed “affordable,” the study found. The most affordable housing market was in Pittsburgh,...

Thinking of buying a starter home? Be careful!The above image from John Burns Research.💭 When do you think owning will feel affordable again for first-time buyers?— John Burns Research and Consulting (@JBREC) July 2, 2025Burns CriteriaHome payment, entry-level home mortgage5 percent down, 30-year fixed mortgagePrincipal, Interest, Tax Payments, and Insurance (PITI) payment plus mortgage insurance payment Annual maintenance costs ranging from 0.85 percent to 1.25 percent of home price One might put down 10 percent to avoid mortgage insurance. Looking ahead Burns see homeownership costs stubbornly high, 95 percent premium all the way through 2028.That means home prices remain stubbornly...

Paul Sperry @paulsperry_ DEVELOPING: Trump HUD is proposing a two-year cap on fraud-infested Section 8 housing subsidies, which currently have no time limits or work requirements. Studies show at least 1.4 million have been freeloading off tax-supported Sec. 8, which brings more crime to neighborhoods... 12:11 PM · Aug 19, 2025

Homebuyers are gaining power in much of the country. Just not in the wealthy, pricey East Coast.Consensus is growing among economists that home prices will flatline or even fall on a national level in 2025 as the housing market spends a third year stuck in a deep slump. But those national trends mask a housing market that looks increasingly fractured, with prices rising in many cities in the Northeast and Midwest, and falling in parts of the Southeast and Mountain West.In the stretch of cities between Richmond, Va., and Portland, Maine, homes are still selling at almost as frenetic a...

Home prices are being slashed across the US as the housing market cools — with one city seeing them plunge almost seven percent. In July, prices dropped year-over-year in 14 of the 50 most populous US cities — with Florida, California and Texas hit hard, reports Redfin. 'Sellers need to come to terms with two things,' said Redfin agent James Gulden. 'Homes are going to sit longer, and buyers are gaining the upper hand.' Homes are lingering for weeks or months — a stark contrast to the days of bidding wars and same-day offers... the lower prices combined with a...

The media has suddenly focused on inflation after ignoring skyrocketing inflation under Biden. Now they are pimping a so-called "Housing Crisis" for renters. The fact is in most parts of the country there is actually a "Responsible Tenant Crisis." The media cites statistics that there are 15 renters for each apartment. The fact is that out of those 15 renters, possibly one of them is a qualified candidate. Ever since the Scamdemic, when the government told renters that they won't get evicted if they don't pay their rent, many renters lived large off of expanded unemployment checks and simply opted...

A migrant mother who has received $30,000 through a Massachusetts housing assistance program is now asking for more help. Nadine, who declined to share her last name citing deportation fears, moved to the United States from Haiti in 2021, the Boston Globe reports. She has been living in a subsidized three-bedroom apartment in Dorchester, regarded as Boston's most diverse neighborhood, with her four-year-old son for the past year. Nadine received $30,000 in aid through Governor Maura Healey's HomeBASE emergency shelter program which can be used towards monthly rent payments, security deposits, associated broker's fees, furniture purchases and more. HomeBASE offers...