calculator for 'green' home improvements

http://www.lahn.utexas.org/cbhit/CBHIT.html

© is held by the LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin.

Any reference or publication reference to the model should be as follows: 

LBJ School of Public Affairs. 2012 Cost-Benefit Home Intervention Tool or C-BHIT at www.utexas.lahn.org

brochure made without electricity

http://www.yatzer.com/brochure-made-entirely-without-energy

Alex F. Schwartz: Housing Policy in the United States, 2010: Chapter 3

Chapter 3
"Because housing is so expensive, its development and acquisition almost always depend on borrowed money. 
...
The housing finance system has been structured to a large degree by the federal government, often in response to crisis. Many of the most enduring institutions and elements, including fixed-rate, self-amortizing mortgages, mortgage insurance, and a secondary mortgage market, stem from the Roosevelt administration's interventions in response to the Great Depression. (Schwartz 2010, 51)

The Home Owner's Loan Act of June 13, 1933 sought to "pull people out of foreclosure" (Immergluck 2004). It created the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) to purchase and refinance mortgage loans in default. It used long-term federal bonds to acquire mortgages in default and then rewrote these mortgages on much more affordable terms. It extended the terms of the mortgages to 15 years, thereby reducing monthly payments.  (Schwartz 2010, 53)

The Roosevelt administration and Congress created the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) 1 year and 2 weeks after launching HOLC. ... Through the FHA, the federal government insured mortgages issued by qualified lenders. With FHA insurance, mortgage lenders were protected from default; if borrowers failed to keep up with their mortgage payments, the FHA would cover the unpaid balance of the loan. (Schwartz 2010, 53)

Put bluntly, the FHA deemed properties located in predominantly Black neighborhoods too risky to warrant mortgage insurance. (Ibid, 55)

Although the FHA readily insured mortgages for housing in suburban communities, urban neighborhoods received much less insurance. ... 'FHA was helping to denude St. Luis of its middle class residents' (Jackson 1985: 209). ... FHA had not insured a single mortgage in the declining industrial cities of Camden and Paterson, New Jersey ... In addition to its incorporation of racial criteria in allocating mortgage insurance, FHA also contributed to the decline of urban areas by favoring single-family over multifamily construction, as well as construction of new homes over rehabilitations of existing structures.    ...  (Ibid, 56)

Thrifts were the single largest source of mortgage loans from the later 1930s through the 1970s.
..
Whereas thrifts financed home mortgages out of their deposits, FHA mortgages were financed mostly by nondepository institutions.  (Ibid, 57)

Thrifts came under still more severe stress by late 1970

Shannon: Housing subsidy

In our class Housing and the Community, Shannon - our professor, mentioned that the biggest subsidy to the housing market is not to the poor, which is how most of us perceive subsidy: Public/social/affordable housing for the poor, who get 'massive' discounts on their living expenses. Most of the times the US provides vouchers to poor renters to pay for the remainder of cost over 30% of the renter's income. 30% of income is the 'affordable' price for housing. 

Contrary to this belief that most housing subsidy goes to the impoverished population, Shannon informed us that the mortgage repayment tax breaks for home-buyers are by far the biggest federal housing subsidy. It makes sense if the majority of the population in the United States lives in single family housing and they get a mortgage to buy it, they will get an income tax break for that mortgage. 

Maquilladoras, Mexico

"Most worked eight to twelve hour days, doing difficult or dangerous manual labor, and still find it a great hardship to afford the tuition, uniforms, and supplies their children needed to go to school.  The women estimated that only twenty percent of the children in their settlement finish high school, most choosing instead to go to work.  Many deal every day with chemicals or dangerous machinery, and are provided little to no protective gear."

" The Maquiladoras in Mexico are taking part in what has become a common practice among transnational corporations around the world: the global assembly line.  This is the concept that regardless of where a company is rooted, it will move its production to the country with the cheapest labor and the most relaxed environmental laws.  If the wages are raised or the environmental standards begin to rise to expensive levels, they will just pick up and leave.  This makes the raising of wages very difficult.  These companies give a little bit of work to a desperate country, but the jobs they give do not lead to promotions as jobs in the U.S. do.  They are not stepping stones.  The poor are staying poor no matter how hard they work, which means that they have no money to put into the economy, and no way to build a middle class.  If the Maquiladora workers fight for wage increases are successful, it may mean the retreating of these companies from Mexico.  But if they do not demand a living wage now, where will their children find themselves?"

source:
Amanda Flore
April, 2010
amandafiore.com/articles

maquilladoras

The presentation at University of Toronto talks about the rise and fall of Maquilladoras on the Mexican side of the U.S. - Mexico border twin cities. The Maquilladoras are a result of NAFTA agreement. US and European companies essentially exploit the cheap labor in Mexico similarly to FDI (foreign direct investment) strategies. The only value added on the price of the products assembled in Mexico is the labor cost. In early 2000s the Maquilladoras could not compete with even cheaper labor in Asia and companies relocated their assemblies there. These days the presentation says we are seeing a reversal of the trend with higher shipping prices.
Hallelujah.
zero oil will save us one day.
 


source:
Juan Robles
http://infranetlab.org/blog/border-economies-maquiladora-export-landscape

"The 1982 peso devaluation crippled the Valley economy. By contrast, the 1994 devaluation barely slowed economic growth. The reason was a more diversified economy. Tourism, manufacturing, supply manufacturing and health care now complement agriculture. Retail sales in Texas cities bounced back strongly from the peso collapse, rising by $300m in 1996 to $5.5 billion. "Everyone's got a theme park. We ain't got a theme park," explained one Valley politician; "Mexico's our theme park.""

"Since the coming of NAFTA, foreign companies including BMW, Sony and Matsushita have set up maquiladoras in Reynosa and Matamoros. In turn, smaller supply companies have grown up in McAllen and Harlingen, where land is cheaper."

"McAllen (slogan: "It's Naftastic!") is the third-fastest-growing city in the United States and one of the cheapest in which to do business. Despite a 7% job-growth rate, unemployment runs at 16%. The city has concentrated on education and infrastructure to improve its prospects. The South Texas Community College has grown from 600 to 6,000 students in three years, and the city offers to train employees for companies coming in. The Texas State Technical College in Harlingen serves a similar purpose. The University of Texas Pan-Am in Edinburg ("Taco-Tech"), has seen enrolment grow by 400% since 1987. The region's cities on the American side are fiercely competitive for federal dollars; there are, for example, five international airports in a 50-mile radius. But they are trying to work together. Recently, they have combined to try to attract major-league baseball clubs for spring training. Officials are co-operating to bring I-69, the proposed Montreal-Mexico City freeway, through the Valley, a case strengthened by the fact that the region remains the largest urban area in the United States without an interstate highway. There is talk of consolidating cities on both sides into a single metropolitan sprawl known as "Borderplex"."

source:
http://www.uwec.edu/geography/ivogeler/w188/articles/txmx.htm
1997 The Economist Newspaper Limited. All Rights Reserved

Maquilladoras

"Over 11,500 Maquiladoras, Spanish for U.S.-owned and -operated assembly factories in Mexico, are located along the 2,100 mile border with the United States. Tijuana, at the western end of the U.S.-Mexican border, alone has 4,000Maquiladoras, employing nearly 1 million workers and producing goods whose value-added was over $7 billion a year in 1998. The importance of these products  -- almost half consisted of textiles and consumer electronics -- were only second to oil in the Mexican economy."

"Many factories (over 300 in just two years, 2002-2003) that located in Mexico during the 1980s and 1990s for low wages are in 2003 relocating to Asia. An entry-level machine operator in Juarez makes $8 a day while the same job in a Chinese factory fetches only $2. And in China there are no unions, whereas there are in Mexico. The World Trade Organization regulates global trade but only as it affects the interests of investors and manufactures, not of workers and the environment."


source:
http://www.uwec.edu/geography/ivogeler/w188/border/maquil.htm

" Another factor that resulted in increased Mexican immigration was the maquiladora. A 
maquiladora is a “Mexican manufacturing or assembly plant owned or sponsored by a foreign 
country” (Williams, 2002). Under the maquiladora program, materials and equipment are 
imported duty-free for assembly or manufacturing provided that they are re-exported. The 
receiving company then pays a small value-added tariff equivalent to the computed value of the 
work done in the maquiladora (Williams, 2002). Given the low wages paid in Mexican factories, 
this arrangement proved to be quite profitable for American companies. The maquiladora 
program also proved beneficial to Mexico and her citizens as it created millions of jobs (source: 

http://www.maquilaportal.com). "


" Ward et al. (2004) have investigated the relationship between land and housing market performance and lot title regularization in several colonias outside Rio Grande City, Starr County, Texas. Specifically, these researchers investigated the effect on land prices of a title regularization initiative to clear property titles of very poor households as an intervention implemented by the Community Resources Group (CRG) Receivership Program. The CRG is a non-governmental organization commissioned by the State of Texas to undertake title regularization in 15 colonias outside Rio Grande City. For their study, the authors formed two sample groups. A “study group” which consisted of those families who had no titles or who had experienced major difficulties associated with their titles or residence and who ultimately received titles as a result of the CRG intervention. Also, the researchers formed a “control group” consisting of resident households who had not experienced serious title problems and, therefore, were not affected by the CRG intervention. The researchers found that the provision of formal property titles as part of a policy to regularize land titles appears to have an insignificant influence upon market performance or upon land prices. Instead, it is sweat equity (sweat equity is the contribution made to a project by people who contribute their time and effort), resulting in housing improvement, that raises the property value and which gives rise to some equity creation and to potential wealth creation for the lot purchaser. "

source: 

FRANK MARTINEZ III, M.A.

Las colonias de la frontera: A study of substandard housing settlements along the Texas-Mexico border

Dissertation describes the history of Mexican immigration from the 19th century through to the Bracero program, the differences between colonias in the states that border Mexico and the history of policies that shaped the proliferation of colonias. 

Migration and Development Within and Across Borders: Research and Policy Perspectives on Internal and International Migration

https://s3.amazonaws.com/ssrc-cdn1/crmuploads/new_publication_3/%7BBA021F89-2446-DE11-AFAC-001CC477EC70%7D.pdf

Hans Rosling: TED 2006, data visualisation

http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_best_stats_you_ve_ever_seen.html

Q Ideas for the common good

http://www.qideas.org/cities/

similar to TED Ideas worth spreading

Algae

http://www.algalturfscrubber.com/

Smartphone controlled paper air plane

http://mashable.com/2013/11/30/paper-airplane-smartphone/?utm_cid=mash-com-fb-main-link

Tiny house, US

http://www.viralnova.com/tiny-house/

Light pollution in the US

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/07/let-there-be-night/278070/

City plot - city gardens in NY

http://cityplot.org/apply-now-for-funded-cityplot-workshops-and-trainings/

20 dollars air conditioner

http://www.thestar.com/news/2013/07/16/the_20_air_conditioner.html

Poem on immigration maths in the UK

http://www.upworthy.com/next-time-someone-tells-you-that-immigrants-are-destroying-our-country-show-them-this?g=2

Suburbia by CASS student

http://www.thecass.com/news-events/2013/december/riba-presidents-medals-cass