News & Resources

by Ronald Clewer Its a Leadership Problem Despite the recent interest rate cuts by the Fed, the cost of owning or renting shelter are among the highest in decades. The market suffers from terrifyingly low housing inventory, a trend that started after the Great Recession and has only exacerbated since our local economic conditions have […]

This morning, I was reading a Kellog article on rockets and feathers. If you’re not familiar with the reference, “rocket and feather” is an economic term that describes how prices rise like a rocket and fall like a feather. As I think about recent local housing news, and the increase in housing prices since the […]

Housing growth, a guide for cities. By Ronald ClewerJuly 04, 2024 The following is a direct reprint from the folks at the NYU Furman Center from their LinkedIn post today. While intended for NY City, the 6 principles apply to every city struggling with housing inventory challenges. All principles are important, but the last three […]

If you have been following my Substack column, or my LinkedIn posts, you may have deduced that I am a housing advocate through and through. You may also deduce that I am a City of Rockford proponent and cheerleader. As a Rockfordian by choice, I recognize the amazing assets we have as a community. I also recognize that we have issues […]

Last week’s post, answered the question of what is affordable housing? As you may recall, housing affordability means the sum of rent or mortgage and housing related costs (i.e. utilities, insurance, and real estate taxes for homeowners) is no more than thirty-percent (30%) of a household’s income. I also noted in last week’s post that […]

This week Up for Growth published 2023 Housing Underproduction™ in the U.S. The organization’s web page does a great job of highlighting national drivers, trends, and history of US housing underproduction. In the coming weeks, we will look at this underproduction in greater detail, specifically, what does it mean in the Midwest, Illinois, Northern Illinois, and my hometown of Rockford, IL, […]