Author | Lightnews

Russell McIntyre @russellmcintyre.bsky.social · 20d

The next housing crisis in a nutshell:

💸 16% increase in monthly property taxes
⛈️ 146% increase in homeowners insurance costs
🏘️ historic undersupply of affordable housing
📈 high mortgage rates creating lock-in effect
🏚️ high costs of labor & materials preventing repair

www.urban.org/research/pub...

A Perfect Storm of Rising Costs Threatens America’s Housing Market

This brief provides a case study of one housing market that many markets across the country can examine. The pressures on households, real estate and insuran…

www.urban.org

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Russell McIntyre @russellmcintyre.bsky.social · 20d

Just another straw on the housing market's overly strained back.

We really need to consider federal limits on the amount of single-family homes that investors can purchase, especially in LMI areas (though it'll be at least another 3.5 years before that happens).

www.housingwire.com/articles/inv...

Investors drive up home prices, challenging first-time buyers

Real estate investors are outbidding first-time buyers, paying up to 4.3% over market value. Discover the impact on home prices.

www.housingwire.com

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Russell McIntyre @russellmcintyre.bsky.social · 25d

Apparently we learned nothing from 2008...🤦‍♂️

Got a feeling that our next housing collapse is gonna look a lot like the last one.

www.cnbc.com/2025/10/08/b...

Borrowers head back to riskier mortgages, looking for any potential savings

Mortgage demand weakened again but for those in the market, adjustable-rate loans are getting more popular, as they offer lower interest rates.

www.cnbc.com

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Russell McIntyre @russellmcintyre.bsky.social · Oct 1

The shutdown is bringing our housing market to a standstill and this is what HUD chooses to post on their front page today... 🤦‍♂️😒

HUD.gov homepage with a new chyron that reads: "The Radical Left in Congress shut down the government. HUD will use available resources to help Americans in need."

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Russell McIntyre @russellmcintyre.bsky.social · Sep 29

If I were Mamdani, I wouldn't give two sh*ts about either of their endorsements.

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Russell McIntyre @russellmcintyre.bsky.social · Sep 29

Fear of diversity.

I'm from rural NC - almost everyone was white & religious and many hated 'the big city' because you were more likely to see non-white, non-straight, non-middle class, non-religious folk (that Fox News has taught them to be afraid of)

Mind you the 'big city' was Spartanburg, SC 🙄

Faine Greenwood @faineg.bsky.social · Sep 28

the amount of raw, unadulterated fear that many Americans have of even small cities is never going to stop being darkly hilarious to me

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Russell McIntyre @russellmcintyre.bsky.social · Sep 26

Had a chance to sit down for a conversation on the current homeowners insurance crisis and the need to increase public funding for resiliency measures, at both the individual property and community level. 🏘️⛈️🌪

www.cotality.com/insights/art...

Prevention isn't popular- but it's good policy

There is a fault line straining the insurance industry which could trigger a housing shock with echoes of the last financial crisis. | Cotality

www.cotality.com

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Russell McIntyre @russellmcintyre.bsky.social · Sep 25

Been meaning to share this phenomenal research piece from Matt Posner and @el-xav.bsky.social over at @brookings.edu.

Doesn't just outline the current problems we have financing resiliency investments, but actually provides a roadmap for potential solutions. 🏡🏘️

www.brookings.edu/articles/ret...

Rethinking our assumptions and financing tools for community resilience in the face of growing climate loss and risk | Brookings

This report explains that it is key to reorient public finance toward principles of shared risk, shared value, and new pricing.

www.brookings.edu

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Russell McIntyre @russellmcintyre.bsky.social · Sep 9

the next housing crisis isn't just around the corner... it's already here.

Chart showing the change in average mortgage costs for principal, interest, tax, and insurance payments. Subce December 2019, property insurance costs have risen 69%; property taxes have risen 26.8%; interest has risen 27.4%; principal payments have risen 23.2%; which averages out to a 29.1% rise in total payments.

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Russell McIntyre @russellmcintyre.bsky.social · Sep 9

omg, it's like if we actually taxed the rich we could pay for things, who knew 🤷‍♂️

www.housingwire.com/articles/los...

Los Angeles 'mansion tax' fuels record affordable housing funding

Most of the money — $316 million — comes from Measure ULA, a transfer tax on property sales above $5 million that voters approved in 2022.

www.housingwire.com

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Russell McIntyre @russellmcintyre.bsky.social · Sep 4

How... how did this take three weeks? Shoulda been day one. 🤦‍♂

Breaking news headline reading: DC sues Trump administration to stop National Guard deployment.

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Russell McIntyre @russellmcintyre.bsky.social · Aug 21

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Russell McIntyre @russellmcintyre.bsky.social · Aug 21

fry from futurama is shocked with his mouth open

Alt: fry from futurama is shocked (well, not that shocked)

media.tenor.com

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Russell McIntyre @russellmcintyre.bsky.social · Aug 21

"the median board is composed of 97 percent homeowners"

"all but 4 of the 66 organizations surveyed had a higher share of homeowners on their boards than living in their regions"

www.urban.org/urban-wire/m...

In Most Regions, Metropolitan Planning Boards Overrepresent Homeowners and Drivers

The appointed and elected officials who sit on the boards of a large share of regional planning organizations rarely reflect the people they serve.,Regional planning organizations help coordinate deci...

www.urban.org

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Russell McIntyre @russellmcintyre.bsky.social · Aug 12

To be fair, the entire 90 minutes we played y'all in Portland felt like a hellhole for us 😭

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Russell McIntyre @russellmcintyre.bsky.social · Aug 12

Spent the afternoon surrounded by thousands of loud people all dressed in black and yellow.

Must've been a gang thing.

Picture from Audi Field of the Washington Spirit playing soccer against (and beating) the Portland Thorns.

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Russell McIntyre @russellmcintyre.bsky.social · Aug 12

As a proud alum of @gspmgwu.bsky.social please - for the love of god - fight this.

They're trying to outlaw civil protests.

This attack on higher ed is peak authoritarianism.

www.reuters.com/legal/govern...

Trump administration says George Washington University violated law over Jewish students, faculty

The Trump administration said on Tuesday it found George Washington University had violated federal civil rights law regarding Jewish, American Israeli, and Israeli students and faculty and will seek "immediate remediation" from the school.

www.reuters.com

Russell McIntyre @russellmcintyre.bsky.social · Aug 4

a bald man with glasses and a tie is sitting in front of a computer and says this better not awaken anything in me

ALT: a bald man with glasses and a tie is sitting in front of a computer and says this better not awaken anything in me

media.tenor.com

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Russell McIntyre @russellmcintyre.bsky.social · Aug 4

Any politician running for governor or mayor of a large city

We need concrete plans and people who actually understand the energy sector - not more platitudes and repeated campaign jargon

Hold their feet to the fire - ask them to cite data, provide specific plans, name experts that they trust, etc

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Russell McIntyre @russellmcintyre.bsky.social · Jul 31

Good thing we still have the BRIC progra- oh wait...

But what about the the Green & Resilient Retrof- hmm...

At least they're still funding the HOME and CDBG prog- no?

... well shit

www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/home-re...

Home Repairs Are Out of Reach for Many Lower-Income Homeowners

The housing stock requires continuous reinvestment to maintain decent conditions. Yet many homeowners lack the resources to invest in basic maintenanc

www.jchs.harvard.edu

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Russell McIntyre @russellmcintyre.bsky.social · Jul 28

"In addition, subpart C potentially conflicts with current policy by establishing requirements that use the defined term “underserved community.”

So identifying communities that need help, and simply requiring FHFA to help them, is against administration policy.

LMI communities about to be gutted.

Russell McIntyre @russellmcintyre.bsky.social · Jul 28

🚨 FHFA is repealing the Equitable Housing Finance Plan 🚨

This plan requires FHFA to identify barriers to housing for "underserved communities"

The administration says that establishing requirements for underserved communities "conflicts with current policy"

www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...

Fair Lending, Fair Housing, and Equitable Housing Finance Plans

The Federal Housing Finance Agency ("FHFA" or the "Agency") is requesting comment on the notice of proposed rulemaking repealing the Fair Lending, Fair Housing, and Equitable Housing Finance Plans reg...

www.federalregister.gov

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Russell McIntyre @russellmcintyre.bsky.social · Jul 24

Allstate CEO compensation - $26.1M
Chubb CEO compensation - $30.1M
Travelers CEO compensation - $23.1M
Slide Insurance CEO compensation - $21M

US insurance firms' total investments in fossil fuels - $500M+

Shit like this is why it's so hard to fight climate change. 🤦‍♂️

prospect.org/power/2025-0...

Home Insurance Executives Are Raking It In—at Your Expense

Performance-based pay packages incentivize claim denials and other harmful practices.

prospect.org

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Russell McIntyre @russellmcintyre.bsky.social · Jul 15

GREAT new piece from @urbaninstitute.bsky.social detailing the difficulties that many states will have in responding to natural disasters, given the expected pullback from FEMA.

www.urban.org/urban-wire/t...

The Trump Administration Wants to Shrink the Federal Government’s Role in Disaster Management. Do States Have the Fiscal Capacity to Weather the Storm?

Taking on more disaster management responsibilities would be toughest for states at high risk of disasters with low fiscal capacity, such as Louisiana and North Carolina.

www.urban.org

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Russell McIntyre @russellmcintyre.bsky.social · Jul 15

ICYMI: Last week we published a new report showing the rise in mortgage delinquencies due to increases in taxes and insurance.

The American dream of homeownership is quickly turning into an American nightmare.

www.cotality.com/insights/art...

The rising cost of staying put

Rising property taxes and insurance payments are eroding the promise of long-term stability in homeownership.

www.cotality.com