fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Hastily that year《匆匆那年》
By: Troubadour Bot
Tags: Lyrics, Chinois, Youth, Nostalgia, Poem

Original Chinese lyrics composed by Albert Leung | 作詞：林夕

English Translation by Troubadour Bot

Official titled “Fleet of Time” (Singer: Faye Wong)

Hastily that year, how many times we said goodbye and yet to part

匆匆那年我们 究竟说了几遍 再见之后再拖延

pity though, whoever loved or not was no more eloquent than an emotional dispute

可惜谁有没有 爱过不是一场 七情上面的雄辩

Hastily that year, we recklessly ravished some vain promises

匆匆那年我们 一时匆忙撂下 难以承受的诺言

only pending to be fulfilled by others

只有等别人兑现

Do not blame the hickey has yet precipitated into a seal

不怪那吻痕还 没积累成茧

unlike a cocoon, for one more prolonged hug as a hibernation, wouldn’t eclose into a fairy

拥抱着冬眠也没能 羽化再成仙

Do not blame this love has no more time for repeated rehearsals

不怪这一段情 没空反复再排练

It is the age, lenient enough to grant us the repentance

是岁月宽容恩赐 反悔的时间

Had we not met again with sobbing eyes, shall we still have blushing faces,

如果再见不能红着眼 是否还能红着脸

like hastily that year, carving a beautiful lie “together forever”

就像那年匆促 刻下永远一起 那样美丽的谣言

If the past still worth clinging, do not put down too soon,

如果过去还值得眷恋 别太快冰释前嫌

for who parted willingly into oblivion?

谁甘心就这样 彼此无挂也无牵

We should owe and mind, otherwise what to remind

我们要互相亏欠 要不然凭何怀缅

Hastily that year, so little of the world we’d seen, that the only appeared face addicted us,

匆匆那年我们 见过太少世面 只爱看同一张脸

for no reasons, that of charming, that of vexing…

那么莫名其妙 那么讨人欢喜 闹起来又太讨厌

Hastily that year, our love deserved to be a fling, since we didn’t know, the wishful promise, however determined,

相爱那年活该 匆匆因为我们 不懂顽固的诺言

is only a prologue for break-up.

只是分手的前言

Do not blame the freezing day, tears drop into snow flake,

不怪那天太冷 泪滴水成冰

neither did the breeze of spring breathe life into the lifeless photos.

春风也一样没 吹进凝固的照片

Do not blame each other for failing to love in complete.

不怪每一个人 没能完整爱一遍

It is the age, kind enough to complete the incomplete with a suspense

是岁月善意落下 残缺的悬念

Had we not met again with sobbing eyes, shall we still have blushing faces,

如果再见不能红着眼 是否还能红着脸

like hastily that year, carving such a beautiful lie “together forever”

就像那年匆促 刻下永远一起 那样美丽的谣言

If the past still worth clinging, do not put down too soon,

如果过去还值得眷恋 别太快冰释前嫌

for who parted willingly into oblivion?

谁甘心就这样 彼此无挂也无牵

Had we not met again with sobbing eyes, shall we still have blushing faces?

如果再见不能红着眼 是否还能红着脸

like hastily that year, carving such a beautiful lie “together forever”

就像那年匆促 刻下永远一起 那样美丽的谣言

If the past still worth clinging, please don’t put down too soon

如果过去还值得眷恋 别太快冰释前嫌

who parted willingly into oblivion?

谁甘心就这样 彼此无挂也无牵

Let a sting owed

我们要互相亏欠

Let a string wound

我们要藕断丝连
playing house
By: Hazel English
Tags: Life, House, Poetry, Youth, Love

Photo by Florian Olivo on Unsplash

lying in a dry bath

imagining the water filling up around me

maybe some bubbles too

and a loofah to scrub myself

but there is no running water here

we are exploring an abandoned house

on the next street over

and you are trying to impress me by

climbing up to the second floor

but everything is in such a bad state

i’m worried you will fall and break your neck

and then we wont get to experience our

first kiss or first fuck or

tell each other false promises about the future

so i tell you to get down

and we inspect the graffiti

scrawled over exposed brick and scaffolding

we laugh and pretend it’s our house

and we are just going through renovations

i try to imagine playing house with you one day

somehow i can’t picture it
We have the 30th anniversary winner of the Moscow Housing Program 🎊
Tags: Estate Planning, Estate, Flats, Housing

We have the 30th anniversary winner of the Moscow Housing Program 🎊 Tirus ·Dec 24, 2020

Larisa Shabailova, Novokuznetsk

Larissa made herself a great gift for the New Year 🎁

👏🏻 New Year — with a new apartment!

We sincerely congratulate Larisa and wish her to stay strong in the pursuit of her goals 🙏🏻

We remind that each of you can become the owner of real estate in Moscow! And then, there are three options:

✅ Live there yourself

✅ Take the money, $ 15400

✅ Rent out an apartment in the house situated in Moscow region and get a monthly profit

Tirus gives you opportunities, and you just have not to miss them 😉🙌🏻
Public Housing on Public Land
By: Gil Rodan
Tags: Housing, San Jose

Both San Jose and California falling perilously behind on low-income housing production goals, with restrictive zoning regulations, tedious development processes, and skyrocketing construction costs among the larger factors to blame.

But utilizing public land to further a radical new vision of housing could be a salve (not a silver bullet). Under California law, cities are already required to prioritize public land for affordable housing. The crucial question is how do we do it?

Some programs, such as the VTA’s Transit Oriented Development program, lease agency land for private development with the caveat that at least 20% of new housing units be deeply affordable. One example of this would be the new redevelopment of the VTA parking lot at Tamien Station, where roughly 24% of the new units are expected to be rented at deeply affordable levels.

But according to housing policy analysts such as Samuel Stein, these are unlikely to provide much benefit to the housing market because although such developments “produce more units in general…it makes the immediate area much more expensive.” This is because new market-rate development boosts nearby property values; giving landlords more incentives to increase rent.

So we can infer that these developments need to be almost entirely below market rate, thus preventing displacement in neighboring areas.

Affordable housing, whether co-op or government owned, revitalizes neglected neighborhoods while having a negligible effect on nearby land values. Further, in large enough quantities, it forces the private housing market to compete with cheaper units.

So, here’s how we can use vacant land to make it happen — and at virtually no cost.
This is How Airbnb is Contributing to the Bay Area Housing Crisis
By: Evan Chen
Tags: Airbnb, Housing, Data, Data Science, Public Policy

Airbnb Headquarters in San Francisco

Airbnb, the short-term rental platform founded in 2008, went public last week, pricing its initial public offering (IPO) at $68 per share but closing most recently at around $157 per share, as of the time of this writing. Obviously, investors see lots of potential and value in the company. But how valuable is Airbnb really to the world beyond investors?

Having lived in the Bay Area for several years now, I have always had generally positive sentiments towards Airbnb and even got to visit the company’s beautiful headquarters a couple of years ago. However, I also know that housing in the Bay Area is a touchy subject. As a renter myself, I know how expensive it is to live here, and rental prices are only increasing.

Airbnb’s original intention was to follow a sharing economy model in which hosts would only occasionally rent out their spaces. However, according to Inside Airbnb, there have been concerns in recent years that owners are listing their properties permanently, more like hotels, which is against the law in many locations and could lead to a number of downstream consequences such as gentrification and lack of affordable housing. Airbnbs that operate like hotels are also able to avoid certain taxes and regulations that other regular hotels must endure.

As a result, I decided to use data on 5,185 listings in Santa Clara County as of October 25, 2020, from Inside Airbnb to find out if there are any negative impacts of the company.
... looking forward to my house, which we are building right now, because it will permit me to…
By: Christine Sander
Tags: Wealth, Tiny House, Housing, Tiny Homes, Inequality

... looking forward to my house, which we are building right now, because it will permit me to garden and be out there, under the open sky... without mask, undue walls or noises...
It should not be either/or. We should do both. Because ‘fixing the inequalities’ will take time and most likely, short of a revolution, will never be fixed under this capitalist system, as inequality…
By: Roberto Mendoza
Tags: Wealth, Tiny House, Housing, Tiny Homes, Inequality

“We need to stop making tiny houses to accommodate the growing wealth inequalities, and instead start fixing the inequalities.”

It should not be either/or. We should do both. Because ‘fixing the inequalities’ will take time and most likely, short of a revolution, will never be fixed under this capitalist system, as inequality is built into the system. In the meantime, many homeless people would be better off in a tiny house than on the street.
How The Color of Law changed my perspective
By: Coral Lin
Tags: Housing, The Color Of Law, Zoning

This summer, a few mentors recommended I read The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein. The Color of Law presents Rothstein’s argument that segregation policies carried out by the U.S. government led to lasting systematic housing and wealth inequalities for Black Americans. Growing up in Newton, a suburb of a large city, I never questioned what circumstances led to the affordable housing shortage in Newton and the Greater Boston area. After my reading, I was left with hard questions about my hometown and how it was implicated in housing discrimination. I learned that Newton had racial covenants that barred Black families from residing in our neighborhood and that redlined zoning maps drawn in the early 1900s remained similarly segregated in today’s zoning code.

Walking through my neighborhood for hours during the pandemic, I found myself thinking critically about who is able to live, work, and go to school in Newton. To do my part in rectifying historic injustices, I became more involved with organizations such as Newton’s Engine 6, which advocates for fair zoning reform and affordable housing. With the help of long-time housing advocates, I learned more about policies that exacerbate disparities in health outcomes, socioeconomic status, and education between neighborhoods and why solutions for housing equity were needed to resolve these issues. I dove headfirst into local government, drafting comparative studies between other cities reforming their zoning codes and attending my first zoning and planning meetings.

Many of these zoning and planning meetings were overrepresented by older, white Newton homeowners. It seemed odd to me that policies that would be affecting future generations of Newtonians seemed to have no one under 40 giving input. With a few other high school and college students, I joined a small group called Students for Zoning Reform. Together, we met with city councilors and allies from Engine 6 to learn and advocate for equitable reforms and made our presence known in the community by going to the Planning Department’s office hours meetings.

Reading The Color of Law helped me understand how an issue as seemingly boring and bureaucratic as zoning reform can be impactful for people and cities throughout across the county and in my own backyard. Zoning is an interdisciplinary topic connecting important issues such as race, class, the environment, and housing.
Sue Himmelrich, no fan of housing.
By: Matthew Stevens
Tags: Elections, Santa Monica, Los Angeles, Local Government, Housing

I’m curious, do people know what Mayor Himmelrich means when she says she only supports affordable housing?

“Affordable housing” is more accurately described as income-restricted rental housing. It’s vitally important and we should build as much as we can but it’s not available to everyone. To qualify, you cannot earn more than the income limits.

For a family of four in Santa Monica, the upper most income limit in newly constructed “affordable housing” is $92,750 per year. That’s $46,375 per working parent. If you make more, you’re out of luck — affordable housing is not available to you.

This excludes *a lot* of people. Many of our most essential workers do not qualify. Our nurses, teachers, firefighters, etc. all earn more than $46,375 per year. Their only option is market rate housing, which Mayor Himmelrich does not support.

That’s a big problem. We should want these community members to live in Santa Monica with us. But by saying you don’t support more market rate housing, what you’re in effect saying is that you don’t support housing for them. Our nurses, our teachers, our firefighters — according to Mayor Himmelrich, they don’t deserve housing here.

I find this all to be very hypocritical. Mayor Himmelrich lives in market rate housing! In one of the most expensive and exclusive zip codes in the United States. I guess this means that market rate housing is good when it satisfies her needs, but bad when it satisfies the needs of someone else. So, what ends up happening is that many of our nurses, our teachers, our firefighters, and others end up living elsewhere and commute in through horrific traffic every day. This clogs our roads, pollutes our air, and directly harms the quality of life for those we say are so important to our city.

I think housing is a civil right. And like other civil rights, you either support it for everyone or you don’t really support it all. We don’t get to pick and choose who gets access to the ballot box. Similarly, Mayor Himmelrich shouldn’t get to pick and choose who gets access to housing.
Letter to my Fellow Members of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party
By: Seamus Garrity
Tags: Housing Crisis, Housing, Democratic Party, City Planning, Public Policy

Dear Fellow Members of the LACDP,

California ranks 49th in the number of housing units per capita, and Los Angeles was recently ranked as the least affordable city in the United States. These statistics should inspire and compel us to take aggressive action to support legislative solutions to our state housing crisis. We need to do everything we can to increase the affordability and the availability of low-cost housing. Unless we increase supply, rents will not come down. As the leadership party for the largest county in the country, we are known to support rent-control measures, and we also have a track record of opposing the density solutions.

As an alternate member of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party central committee and an appointed member of the California Democratic Party, I’m calling on all of us, as leaders of the party and the state, to support the six housing bills just introduced in the California State Senate. SB 5 through SB 10 are the initial bills that seek to improve housing supply and ultimately, the living conditions, of all Californians. I implore the party to support these bills outright, and if that seems too outrageous, at the very least, wait until they move out of their house of origin (June 4, 2021) to consider a position.

We need to be a body that supports active discourse around this extraordinarily complex problem. The conversation around housing often immediately devolves into name-calling, and that energy derails our hopes at making progress.

As members of the party that holds power across the state, if we do not change our approach to this crucial issue, affordable housing will only become scarcer and the situation will only continue to worsen. Please read this package of bills carefully and consider the magnitude of what we are facing.

Sincerely,

Seamus Garrity

AD 51
How To Use Numerical Data with ConvNets
By: Ritobrata Ghosh
Tags: Artificial Intelligence, Deep Learning, Computer Vision, Housing, Machine Learning

Dealing with the Images

I am assuming that you are trying to predict the prices of the houses where the pictures of the houses are among the inputs.

This can be accomplished by putting the prices as targets y. And then have the NN predict the price for previously unseen house pictures as y^.

How I would approach this problem-

Form a dataset that has the prices as labels y and the images as inputs.

Split the dataset in train-valid-test splits (remember to shuffle it)

Create and train the NN to output a single number y^ which will be the price (remember that the output layer has to have a single output node that outputs a raw number, preferably a floating-point number, to predict the price).

Up to this point, it is quite a simple problem. Note that I am not taking into account the location information at all. So this model will be unusable in the real world. A mansion in rural Texas will definitely cost a lot less than a 2 bedroom house in counties near San Fransisco. You get the idea. So, we will have to take the location into account. Even after that, it will not be very useful, either. Will come to that later.
If systemic racism exists, we have a lot of work to do.
By: Jeff Swift
Tags: Race, Politics, Housing, Health, Racism

If systemic racism exists, we have a lot of work to do. If it doesn’t, then all these protests are wrong when they claim it does.

If it exists, and it does, then we have to put forth actual effort to identify policies that need to be changed.

The Biden Administration needs to put forth actual effort. Newly elected state officials need to put forth actual effort as do mayors and city councils.

Systemic racism is not just a thing of the past. It’s happening right now. And we can’t just pretend those negative effects away, no matter how politically or ideologically convenient that might be.
Housing Is A Human Right Unveils ‘Renters & Landlords Survival Fund’
By: Housing Is A Human Right
Tags: Covid 19, Housing Is A Human Right, Politics, Housing, California

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, renters have lost work, can’t pay the rent, and face an eviction tsunami. Small landlords are also struggling to stay afloat. Californians need immediate solutions for this unfolding crisis. Housing is a Human Right is now pushing forward with the Renters & Landlords Survival Fund.

Housing Is A Human Right, the housing advocacy division of AIDS Healthcare Foundation, is proposing new legislation that will use California’s budget surplus to provide $5 billion in financial relief for renters and small landlords. We’re also fighting to extend the statewide moratorium on evictions.

If there was ever a rainy day to use a budget surplus to help Californians, now is that time. The Los Angeles Times, in fact, agrees with us, calling for Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state legislature to use the budget surplus to provide rent relief.

A new study by UCLA shows the seriousness of this crisis, revealing that evictions are tied to more COVID-19 cases and deaths.

“Forty-three states and the District of Columbia instituted temporary eviction bans in response to the widespread joblessness caused by the pandemic in the spring,” Vice reported on November 30 about the study’s findings. “But once some of those moratoriums lapsed and landlords were allowed to boot tenants, there were an estimated 433,700 excess cases and 10,700 deaths from COVID-19 nationwide.”

Things are so dire that people don’t even have enough money for food — and now have to shoplift to feed themselves and their loved ones.

Extending the statewide moratorium on evictions will save lives — and keep families and hard-working Californians in their homes in the new year.

But once the moratorium finally expires, renters will still need help. Housing Is A Human Right believes that Gov. Gavin Newsom and state legislators should send residents relief checks to help cover months of back rent. Small landlords, of course, will benefit, too.

As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, we urge you to join our rent relief campaign. Contact your legislators today and ask them to take action on assisting renters and small landlords. Click on this link to easily contact your state legislator.

Let’s help California renters and small landlords!

Follow Housing Is A Human Right on Facebook and Twitter.
Mission Hill Hit Hard with Vacancies- Deals To Be Had For Renters
By: Zachary Parker
Tags: Housing, Boston, Apartments, Vacancy

Mission Hill is no stranger to apartment turnover. It’s situated close to Boston University and Northeastern University, two of the area’s largest schools. This small neighborhood is heavily populated with students, so it makes sense that in September there is a lot of apartment turnover here.

So when a global pandemic comes to town and shuts down most of the areas biggest schools, you could imagine that would cause some upheaval in the local rental market. As of today, Mission Hill has the 6th highest vacancy rate out of all of the neighborhoods in Boston at 6.48%. That’s a 494% increase in vacant apartments since December of 2019.

Vacancy rate is a great indicator of current market conditions, but availability rate is an even better indicator of future supply. It is calculated by adding the number of currently vacant apartments and the number of apartments becoming available, and dividing that into the total apartment supply. If the availability rate is high, it indicates that vacancies will increase due to leases expiring without new tenants moving in.

Right now, Mission Hill has the 4th highest availability rate out of 30 Boston neighborhoods. It sits at 12.92%. This indicates that many apartments becoming available are still unrented, and vacancy numbers are sure to get worse if landlords don’t find ways to keep their units filled.

While this is bad for the overall market, it is good if you’re a renter. According to Boston Pads, there are 268 Mission Hill apartments available, and 112 of them are currently offering no fee for moving in. That means a whopping 40% of apartments are waiving deposit fees to incentivize renters.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” remarks Demetrios Salpoglou, CEO of Boston Pads. “Usually less than 3% of rentals offer waived fees in Mission Hill. Landlords are desperate to get their units filled.”

While prices have dropped quite a bit in Mission Hill already, we anticipate that trend to continue into January as the second semester begins in Boston. It doesn’t appear like local universities will stray from the remote learning model, in which case apartments in places like Mission Hill will likely remain empty.

All data provided by Boston Pads. We will continue to monitor this situation as it progresses.
Mortgage Forbearance Searches
By: Paul Mangione
Tags: Forbearance, Mortgage, Housing, Real Estate, Housing Prices

Google Trends Index for search term “mortgage forbearance” peaked at the end of March 2020 at 100. In the week ending December 13, the index was 8. This trend is in line with a recent report from the MBA.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, the share of mortgage loans in forbearance decreases to 5.48% on December 14 from the prior measure of 5.54%

By product the share of Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac loans in forbearance decreased by 8bp to 3.26%. Federal Housing Administration (Ginnie Mae) loans decreased by 21bp to 7.68% Portfolio and Private-Label securities increased by 19bp to 8.89%.

MBA Report: https://www.mba.org/2020-press-releases/december/share-of-mortgage-loans-in-forbearance-decreases-to-548-percent

Paul Mangione

Fort Schuyler Advisors

@paul__mangione
Where we live next
By: The British Academy
Tags: Place Based, Housing, Policy, Sustainability, Environmental Issues

A new sustainability blog series from the British Academy

A man and woman sit on a bench in Norton Park, Sheffield, May 2020. Photo by Lindsey Parnaby / AFP via Getty Images.

“Places matter to people. They shape the way we live our lives, feel about ourselves and the relationships we have with others. Moreover places — not least because of their history, character and physical form — contribute significantly to personal and societal wellbeing.”

– from the British Academy Where we live now report

The UK has the potential to be a global leader on environmental sustainability, having set ambitious targets for net zero carbon emissions. But getting there will require a place-based approach that incorporates more wide-ranging questions about community, health and wellbeing, justice and equality, education and skills, housing, public services, and employment, among others.

To address this, the British Academy’s public policy team is embarking on a new programme of work that focuses on factors necessary to ensure a truly sustainable future for the UK. It will explore how a place-sensitive approach to sustainability policy could more effectively and equitably transition society towards a sustainable way of living.

The importance of place in policymaking is not unfamiliar to the Academy — in 2016 we published ‘Where we live now’, a set of reports on place-based policymaking. The series looked at what we can learn from research in the humanities and social sciences in understanding what place means to people and assessed whether policymaking could better take into account how people feel about where they live. Our new sustainability programme will build on this work, examining people-powered environmental sustainability policy solutions, to answer the question “Where do we live next?”

To amplify a range of diverse voices and perspectives in the environmental policy space, the British Academy has created an accompanying blog series to serve as a discussion hub for ideas, challenges and new perspectives on sustainability. The series aims to provide a compelling collection of voices from community and youth leaders, researchers, policy experts and more, to explore the subject of sustainability through the lens of place-based policymaking. Contributors will delve into topics relevant to the core themes of:

· the social, cultural, and educational factors affecting just transition

· the voices, spaces, and scales of environmental governance

· multidisciplinary insights on the delivery of a sustainable economy

If you would like to get involved, please register your interest to Charise Johnson at c.johnson@thebritishacademy.ac.uk.
One of the best cleaning products in the world to arrange your space according to the professionals
By: Abdelhak Elfakiri
Tags: Cleaning, Moms, Housing, House, Kitchen

What Is Hot Water Extraction Cleaning? Methodology, Alternatives, and Benefits of HWE

In a world of many uncertainties, we can probably all agree on one thing — that carpets and upholstery can get covered in stains rather quickly. And sure, technology has skyrocketed in recent years, with companies offering steam cleaning services, others — dry cleaning alternatives, and others still the even more technical-sounding technique, mandatory to understand — hot water extraction cleaning.

By now, you are probably scratching your head in confusion.

Which of the methods is suitable for your type of fabric?

Which of them is more eco-friendly?

What is hot water extraction carpet cleaning?

Is hot water extraction applicable to upholstery?

2 .GLOVES MAGIC SILICONE RUBBER DISH WASHING GLOVE FOR KITCHEN

Magic Silicone Dishwashing Gloves As this product is a 100% silicone eco-friendly product. It is easy to rinse with water, and as it can be sterilized in hot water. This product is more durable than the rubber gloves and can be used for a long time. It can be used for bathroom cleaning, pet hair care, car washing and cleaning, Raise your hand if you *hate* getting your hands wet while washing dishes! (Cue everyone and literally, their mother, raising their hand.) We’d argue the worst part about washing dishes is 1) getting all of the food you just ate on your hands and 2) your hands drying out from washing under hot water.

Lucky for everyone, silicone dishwashing gloves that come with a scrubber attached to the gloves. Yes, that means you don’t have to buy sponges anymore. Yes, that also means you can clean your dishes twice as fast.

more Product : here

instagram for products cleaning : here
Of Fitch Covid and Real Estate in Canada
By: Bushan Bhat
Tags: Tips, Debt, Money, Housing, Economics

A Picture by Ehud Neuhaus on Unsplash

“How about we all stop paying mortgages! It’s a moral hazard.”

Rick Santelli

One of the Big Three U S rating agencies Fitch Ratings Inc. has finally made some credible predictions about the real estate market in Canada in 2021.

Here are some of the findings and raison d’etre for such assessment.

Fitch forecasts that the unemployment rate in 2021 will fall to 7.8% from 9.5% in 2020. When measured against the average rate of 6.3% during the previous five years, the unemployment rate would continue to a matter of concern and would impact the housing market. The segment that has been hardest hit by the pandemic is the 15% self-employed workforce. Their misery will continue for longer than previously thought. The doles may have sustained them for some months in 2020, but that succour would no longer be available to them.

Secondly, the home prices will feel the pressure due to an unprecedented fall of almost 40% in immigration due to the pandemic- a factor that will show its impact in 2021. The rentals are already down and likely to remain low or fall. Despite the incredibly low mortgage rates at the moment, the stress test requirement for new mortgages will continue to undermine demand for housing.

The rents are down 10% to 15% in most major cities. Those who thought of paying a mortgage instead of renting will find renting an easier and more affordable option.

Fitch notes that currently more than 15% (mostly homeowners) who have borrowed and mortgaged their homes are on a payment holiday. After enjoying the holiday many will find their bank accounts still empty, and as they cannot afford to pay their mortgages, the delinquencies will rise by up to 0.5%. That again will affect the housing market adversely.

There are other factors often thought to be less significant than they truly are.

It is not only the Canadian banks that have offered mortgage holiday to their clients. Non-banking lenders often called B lenders, who are private players, also offered a helping hand to their customers who had found themselves in dire straits due to Covid-19. StatsCan, the national statistical agency, for the first-time published data about the relief the non-banking lenders have given to their customers. These firms have granted payment holidays worth $25.4 billion worth of mortgages in the second quarter, two-thirds of which are uninsured.

That sets the scenario for you.

That Fitch predicts real estate market will decline by 3% to 5% in 2021 but rebound again by 7% in 2022, seems, in the light of above facts, not only a mild and generous forecast, but a mere slap on the wrist.

Au Revoir in 2021 and whatever your plans are, I wish you well.

Bushan Bhat
The Hot Ottawa Real Estate Market Is Not Slowing Down Anytime Soon…
By: Michael Arthur, Mpa, Mcne
Tags: Market Research Reports, Ottawa, Housing, Rental, Real Estate

The Hot Ottawa Real Estate Market Is Not Slowing Down Anytime Soon…

Wow, when will the Ottawa real estate market slow down?

Will there be a real estate bubble in Ottawa?

Will residential and condo prices come down in 2021?

Who knows? 🤷🏿

I find it remarkable that Ottawa continues to be consistently having record home sales, especially in November where sales are typically slow. As well, Ottawa's ability to withstand the negative effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Here are some important statistics on what the Ottawa housing market did in November:

⬇️ Listings of residential properties significantly decreased by 50.2% compared to November 2019.

⬆️ Most buyers purchased residential properties in the $450,000-$800,000 price range, which accounted for 62.7% of the residential resale home sales.

⬇️ Condo units were sold much quickly on average from 34 days to 26 days on the market, which is a 24% decrease from the same month in 2019.

⬆️ Bells Corners, Greely, Manotick and Carp were the districts that received the largest average sale price increases in Ottawa year over year above 25%.

Read more details about the Ottawa’s housing market performance here: https://bit.ly/3n6xH2i

I am available to answer your questions about the market.
The Modern Home and its Many Forms
By: Angel Talbot
Tags: Properties For Sale, Emotions, Diversity, Housing, Home

I have been an Estate Agent for many years now and I am always intrigued by the diversity of what we refer to as home. That diversity can range from the family set up, the structure of the home or even the aesthetic style of the home. These are just a few examples of what a home can be for people but I am truly interested in how people perceive their home life and how much they really think about it as the heart of their entire lives. It is in this way that buying or renting a house can become very emotional for some people because I think these people understand what is at stake.

We are creatures of habit and all our happy memories are entwined or even locked in the places we have been and many of those memories are in the home. So, to leave that space and find a new place is an emotional stress that is not always talked about. We all know that moving home is a stressful situation and arguably the most stressful thing you can go through as an adult but the emotional toll of that moves is also food for thought.

What I want to start to analyse when I sell or rent a property is this element of the move. I want to understand the psychology of the home and the people inside it. I think this will help estate agents to do their jobs better and provide more compassion in the moments of sale. I also want to know from these people how they view their home and what they perceive as the most homely part of a house. The home means different things to different people and I want to delve deeper into this notion and find out how much people analyse this element of their lives; consciously or subconsciously. I hope this is of some interest to other people. Tell me what you think.
Let’s Retire the Word NIMBY
By: Seamus Garrity
Tags: Local Politics, Government, Housing Crisis, Housing, Advocacy

Monday was swearing in day at the State Capitol and technically the first day of the 2021 legislative session in California. As a staffer who has been in the trenches on this and as an advocate for greater housing density, I want to share my insights regarding the approach to legislation designed to address California’s housing crisis.

In essence, I think it is time to retire the word NIMBY and start bringing people in instead of pushing them out of our movement. What is productive about labeling groups of people who are concerned for any reason about density and development? We dehumanize others when we label them, and we lose sight of what we want to accomplish. We end up attacking others rather than highlighting our own ideas and our neighbors who need to be included in the conversation and development of our housing solutions.

The echo chambers on “housing Twitter” ultimately waste the energy needed to build relationships, coalitions, and goodwill. Nothing positive is accomplished by attacking members of city councils, neighborhood councils, planning commissions, HOAs, etc. on online platforms — or in person, for that matter. These are some of the groups that we must work with in order to create lasting change within our communities. No matter how certain we are about our position or how bolstered our tweets are with data — we have to meet our potential community partners where theyare and bring them along with us.

As members introduce legislation, pro-housing groups should immediately consider reaching out to the groups they might generally not entirely align or agree with to broaden their coalitions. We cannot wait until the various legislative deadlines to start mobilizing activists to launch social media efforts or virtual events, or to start calling district offices.

Pro-housing advocates should be paving the way for members to support policies that increase housing. If members are forced to navigate the ire of local jurisdictions and community leaders, our wins will be short-lived. If we do the early work to disseminate good ideas and broadening coalitions, then members will not be tasked to introduce new, seemingly drastic changes to code or policies. Our pro-housing movement needs to pivot quickly, to education.

Fundamentally, we need to rethink the dichotomy of YIMBY vs NIMBY and start to realize that the facts lay out a better community for everyone.
5 qualities of a decent home
By: Carolyn T.
Tags: Affordable Housing, International Development, Housing, Habitat For Humanity, Home

Everything Habitat for Humanity does is guided by our vision of a world where everyone has a decent place to live.

Globally, Habitat for Humanity helps families build or improve a decent, affordable place that they can call home. While our work might look a little different in each of the 70 countries where we have a presence — based on local needs, styles, climate and materials — the elements that make a home “decent” are universal.

A decent home is affordable

An affordable home means a family can cover housing costs and still have ample budget for life’s other

necessities: food, health care, transportation, education. As rents and mortgages in the U.S. grow faster than wages, the number of families becoming cost burdened by their housing — meaning they spend more than that 30% — is growing. Too many of our neighbors work hard and still come up short, not because of their own efforts but because of systemic issues and an inequitable economy. Too many essential workers find themselves priced out of the areas where they work. Too many families are denied the personal and economic stability that safe, decent and affordable housing provides. That’s why Habitat builds, helps revitalize communities and advocates.

Around the world, Habitat also works to direct investment capital to the housing sector. We want to ensure that housing microfinance is available to more families, that there is an adequate supply of housing products and related services in the market, and we want to facilitate investment in innovative solutions. What that means is that we partner to make affordable construction materials and services like contractors more widely available and that we work to increase access to the small loans that will allow families to incrementally improve their shelter.

By working to increase housing affordability wherever Habitat has a presence, we help families secure a foundation from which to grow and thrive. And we help reinforce the economic and social fabric that binds us all.
Here’s Why I’m Invested in Housing Stocks
By: Fidelity, Portfolio Manager Insights
Tags: Fidelity Investments, Housing, Investing

Here’s Why I’m Invested in Housing Stocks

The home has always been a safe haven, but that has never been more apparent than during the pandemic-induced lockdowns. I think we’ve reached a point where people now value the space in their home differently than they did pre-pandemic. Even if we had a vaccine tomorrow, I think the experience of the past few months has woken many of us up to the fact that our houses and space matter. I believe this enhanced appreciation for homes will have staying power.

Think about it. We utilize our houses twice as much if we’re working from home. Going forward, we might not return to the office five days a week; instead, we might end up working from home a few days. Two-income families might need offices for both spouses. We might even want a second home.

At the same time, interest rates are historically low, which makes mortgages and houses more affordable. Banks are still lending, and consumer credit is in pretty good shape due to government support. Also, demand for homes has continued to exceed supply, as fewer homes have come to market during the pandemic.

Moreover, people are investing more in their homes because they aren’t spending on vacations or travel. Plus, home values have appreciated, creating a wealth effect; as the equity in their homes goes up, people are willing to spend more on their homes, which ultimately aids economic growth.
WHY MOST PEOPLE CHOOSE TO BUY HOME THAN RENTING?
Tags: Real Estate News, Housing, Real Estate, Real Estate Investments, Reality

In the recent survey conducted by JLL, They came to know that 67% of people choose to buy a home than renting. Most of the potential buyers in and above the age of 35 are planning to improvise their lifestyle by opting out of owning houses above 75 lakhs, according to their expertise.

Homebuyers especially IT employees, who are already living in the rental houses currently shows interest in buying the bigger 2 BHK flats with updated needs. This sudden inclination of interest is due to the change in the daily lifestyle of people which includes work from home and online classes and for this reason people are looking for a spacious homes with limited flats.

Other boosting factor to this escalating idea can be the reduced home loans interest declared by the Reserve Bank of India to 6.9 % . Because of the liberty in bank loan rates and need of spacious homes accelerate people towards buying 2 BHK , which is above 1200 sq. ft.
Naic mother and daughter relish living the dream in newly owned home
By: Ely Jelvin
Tags: Housing, Philippines, House

Jennifer Mora was only 15 years old when she first settled beside Tartar Creek in Barangay Talon Dos, Las Piñas. It was where she grew up, started her own family, and for 22 years endured the realities of urban poverty. Her house was made of scrap wood and iron sheets that was situation literally just a few meters beside the murky creek. This was where Jennifer Mora, along with her family, dwelled precariously, especially during the rainy season when floodwater would ravage their place whenever it rains.

“Dati, tuwing umuulan bumabaha. ‘Yung bintana namin, inaabot ‘yun (ng tubig),” Jennifer said. “Hihintayin mo pumasok ‘yung baha sa loob ng bahay mo. ‘Pag natutulog ka, gigising ka, iaakyat mo ‘yung gamit, at hihintayin mo bumaba ‘yung ulan. Saka ka pa makakatulog ulit.”

Jennifer also recalled that aside from having to content with such hazards, they also had difficult access to basic necessities like water and electricity. She noted how it used to cost them at least P50 to have water delivered to them. They could not get piped-in water connection because of their illegal residential status.

These nightmares are now things of the past for Jennifer’s family, a partner-homeowner of South Morning View HOAI, a community association that resettled in Naic, Cavite.

For the longest time, she had been dreaming of having a safe and secured future for her family. She was finally able to fulfill this dream in 2017 when her community organized themselves and availed of the High Density Housing Program. Thus, she and more than 1,100 families, are now proud homeowners in a safe community.

“Maganda at magaan na po ang pakiramdam namin ngayon. Kumportable kami dito,” Jennifer said. “Kapag sa gabi at natutulog kami, kahit umulan man, tulog pa rin kami. Hindi na namin naiisip ang baha.”

Her daughter, Myra, is also benefitting from the positive impact of owning a decent home. As a typical teenager, the Grade 12 student is now comfortable inviting her friends over to their new residence. “Dati, medyo nahihiya ako kasi squatter lang kami,” she admitted. “Ngayon po hindi na kasi mas okay na ‘yung bahay. Hindi na kami squatter.”

Happiness and gratitude fill their home as the Mora Family thrives in security in their new habitable community that cares for them. These first-time homeowners now radiate a sense of arrival, a sense of being where they belong.
The Value of Living Next to Green Spaces
By: Sf Media
Tags: Housing, Property, Health And Wellness, Green Space

As gardens have shrunk, or even disappeared, the value of public green spaces has gone up. This was reflected in house prices long before COVID19. Since the pandemic struck, however, the value of public green spaces has gone up, both figuratively and literally.

Before COVID19

Back in October 2019, a report from the Office of National Statistics showed that homes in the vicinity of public green spaces carried a price premium. The closer the homes were to the green spaces and the more expansive the green spaces, the higher the price premium.

The authors of the report took great care to compare like with like. For example, they looked at factors such as the age of the property, its size and number of bedrooms and so on. They found that the level of price premium could vary according to the type of property and the area. There was, however, definitely a consistent price premium across all properties.

The lockdown and its effects

It’s common knowledge that the lockdown saw city dwellers taking refuge in parks, at least whenever they could. Some local authorities closed down parks. The official reason for this was generally to prevent crowds from gathering in them. There was unofficial suspicion that it was simply to reduce the costs of maintaining them. Either way, local residents were often furious.

Since the lockdown, data from YouGov for Ramblers shows that the perceived value of public green spaces has gone up significantly. Almost a fifth of adults said that being able to access nature and green space in their local area was more important to them now than before the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is particularly impressive given that almost two-thirds of adults said that being able to access nature and green space in their local area had always been important to them. The most frequent reasons given for valuing public green space were as a place to walk (78%) and as a place to relax (70%). Connecting with nature followed close behind (66%).

Post-lockdown

Right now it’s extremely difficult, if not impossible, to use current housing-market data to predict future developments. So much about the present situation is extraordinary. The UK is still in a pandemic environment and Brexit is on the way. This has led to the government taking emergency measures such as offering Stamp Duty relief.

On the other hand, it is possible to look at what trends were present before the pandemic and think about what the pandemic could mean for them. For example, home working was on the rise long before COVID19. At present, the signs appear to suggest that it will continue to be a major factor in the UK’s working life post-COVID19.

If that does happen, then the current “flight from the inner cities” is likely to continue, at least in the short- to medium-term. People will need spaces for functional home-offices. Over the longer term, however, inner cities could be regenerated, but with a very different balance of residential property, commercial property and public green spaces.
You Need To Make Me Rich Because…
By: Rachel Dodman
Tags: Life, Humor, Housing, Humour, Society

You Need To Make Me Rich Because…

Wow, look at that!

That’s a 23-bed ‘house’! It’s in the sea, between Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight. It’s the perfect writer's retreat! It has its own helicopter pad which would be great for getting to places in a hurry. It has hot tubs, brilliant to ease the aching muscles after a day at the laptop. It even has a fire pit for…err…when I want fire!

A lot of my writing is done in public places (coffee shops, pubs, libraries) and that might be a bit tricky on this island home. But it’s okay — I have a plan! It is very big. I could open up an area as a coffee shop and people could come by boat to use it. It’s only half an hour or so by boat — I’m sure people would like that. Lunch on an island fort sounds like the highlight to a holiday! Then I will still get inspiration from the people around me and, maybe, a small extra income?

You see, I have it all planned.

This is the perfect place for me. The only issue — the price tag.

This perfect property is £4,250,000 ($5,653,583.75, the 75 cents are clearly vital!). That’s a lot more than I can afford. Let me do a few calculations.

£100+£200-£36.60 to the power of not a lot=…

It’s roughly £4,250,000 more than I can afford. That’s a real problem, but I have a solution!

And that’s where you guys come in.

I need you all to read as much of my work as you can and to share with everyone you know. Don’t just share it, ask them what they thought of it and discuss it with them, so they actually have to fully read it (which they will want to do because my work is awesome, obviously). Buy my books and instruct your friends to do the same.

After a little while of doing this, I will have the money I need for my writing retreat. Perfect.

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

And when I’m living there I’ll give you all a free lunch in the coffee shop (and maybe inspire my next story)!

Does that sound like a deal?!