When I talk about community land trusts, now I use the language of lawyers, lenders, and funding sources. Those are the audiences I have to work hard to persuade, to make this crazy model of housing somehow palatable to them. Give me a crewcut and a suit, and my presentation could work at a young…
Romney’s Tax Plan Could Spell Doom for the Nonprofit Housing Sector
by gregorylaird •
This presidential race continues to be a disaster when it comes to issues we care about. No mention of affordable housing, no real debate on how to solve the ongoing foreclosure crisis, and an utter lack of concern about the housing challenges faced by low-income folks in this brutal economy. In the second debate, there…
Decision 2012: What About Housing?
by gregorylaird •
I just took a stroll through the Obama and Romney campaign Web sites, and neither candidate’s list of “issues” includes “housing,” “mortgage,” or “foreclosure.” Apparently the housing crisis that brought our national economy to its knees is over, otherwise they would have listed it, right? How is it possible that the sector of our economy that triggered the biggest…
Letter to the East London CLT: The 2012 Olympics
by gregorylaird •
In a month, I’m going across the pond at the invitation of the East London Community Land Trust, to meet with lots of folks and also deliver what they hope will be an inspiring speech filled with good ideas for developing affordable housing on the site of the 2012 Summer Olympics. Here’s a letter I just…
Too Much Measurement
by gregorylaird •
I remember a point I reached in my work a year and a half ago where I felt like I was spending just as much time measuring my performance as I was actually performing. I was filling out elaborately detailed tree structures with measurable performance targets. I was splitting each 15 minutes of my time…
In Wisconsin: On the Ground In Solidarity
by gregorylaird •
This past Saturday 80,000 of my closest friends and I rallied at the capitol in Madison. This time I volunteered to be a marshall. We had a brief orientation at 9 AM, got our cool orange vests, and then were assigned to teams. I got assigned to “Team Stage,” which was responsible for escorting our…