Last Call For CinciRenty

The Census Bureau has found that home ownership in the Greater Cincinnati area is down sharply from 2010, with two-thirds of people living here now renting.

In the 15-county Cincinnati region, homeownership decreased 5.4 percent from 2010 and 2014. Hamilton County saw a 7.2 percent decline while Butler County saw a drop of 4.2 percent. In Northern Kentucky, results were down as well: Boone and Campbell counties had drops of 4.2 percent and 2.8 percent respectively, while Kenton County had a 7.1 percent decline in homeownership. Data was not available for the other 10 counties in the metro area. 

“Homeownership among some groups of the population has lost its appeal,” said Shaun Bond, director of the University of Cincinnati’s Real Estate Center. “People had negative experiences during the foreclosure crisis. There’s also a view among people, even if they didn’t lose a home, that homeownership isn’t worth the effort.” 

The decrease in homeownership is a trend seen nationwide. Homeownership decreased 3.5 percent nationally between 2010 and 2014, the Census estimates show. 

The new homeownship numbers are part of the 2014 American Community Survey one-year estimates, which were released Thursday. The ongoing survey by the U.S. Census Bureau samples around 3.5 million addresses each year and collects data on a wide range of demographic, social, economic and housing characteristics. Then, the Census Bureau publishes annual estimates for small geographic areas and population groups. 

The new estimates show that nearly two of every three Cincinnati residents (or 64.1 percent) were renters in 2014, up from 57.6 percent in 2010. 

Bond said the the decrease of homeownership in the city can be credited to two factors: The city is lagging in recovering from the Great Recession, and there is a change in lifestyle preferences among homebuyers and renters. 

“For many people, renting makes a lot of sense,” he said. “There are younger people who are developing their career, people who have to move for work, or people who don’t want to own a home. It’s a growth of renters by choice. It’s not because they can’t afford a house.”

The first factor is definitely a problem, and part of the reason why black households in Cincinnati are doing so terribly.  The second factor is due to the new normal in job seeking.  People don't buy houses if they don't think they'll be working for the same company in five years, and spoilers, the majority of American workers won't be with our current employer five years from now, if we're even employed by a company at all.

So yes, I see home ownership dropping even further in the future.  Who will be able to afford a 30-year mortgage when you may have to change jobs and change states every three to five years?

That's where the next housing bubble and collapse is going to start, and I think we're seeing it starting to happen now.

A Bunch Of Boobs In Springfield

Bon The Geek has asked me to pass on this article about Springfield, Missouri's ridiculous new city indecent exposure ordinance, and how it's likely not going to survive a legal challenge.

Springfield’s new indecent exposure ordinance went into effect the moment the votes were cast. Almost as quickly, opponents of the new law are looking for ways to fight back. 

Jessica Lawson, who has been one of the organizers of the recent Free the Nipple rallies, said she was in contact Monday with someone from the American Civil Liberties Union. 

“They just reached out to me today,” she said. “We’re still discussing options with what we’re going to do.” 

Lawson posted a response from the ACLU on her group’s Facebook page: 

“We would be interested in talking to you and others about a potential legal challenge to the new ordinance,” it says. 

While protesters plan their next steps, people on both sides of the issue are reacting to Monday’s 5-4 vote.

And the ordinance is just appallingly stupid, designed to shut down Free The Nipple and Slut Walk rallies in town rather than raise awareness about rape and sexual assault.

We'll have more on this silliness on this weekend's Podcast Versus The Stupid.

Ay, Carly, Con't

Carly Fiorina supposedly "won" Wednesday night's CNN debate, which is a bit like being named Best Orc in Mordor.  Her answers to questions included things like this:

Each candidate was asked who he or she would put on the $10 bill. President Obama's administration announced that a woman would appear on the $10 bill, currently the note of Alexander Hamilton. 

"I wouldn't change the $10 bill or the $20 bill. I think honestly it's a gesture. Don't think it helps to change our history. What I would think is we ought to recognize that women are not a special interest group," Fiorina said. "Women are the majority of this nation. We are half the potential of this nation. And this nation will be better off when every woman has the opportunity to live the life she chooses."

That's a nice sentiment.  Too bad that Fiorina wants to take a number of choices away from women involving their own bodies, their careers, and their families, and has to lie about it in order to try to get there, as Vox's Sarah Kliff points out.

Carly Fiorina defended her remarks about Planned Parenthood Thursday morning on Good Morning America. 

"There's a lot of commentary about these tapes being doctored," Fiorina said in an interview with George Stephanolous. "In fact,that's what the mainstream media keeps talking about is the tapes and their origin. Rest assured, I have seen the images I talked about last night. Rest assure, human lives are being harvested."

Except that's not the case.

There are two Planned Parenthood sting videos that were shot inside Planned Parenthood clinics (other videos exist, taped at conferences and lunch meetings). One was taped in Louisiana and the other in Colorado. And in both videos, Planned Parenthood employees do work with the fetal tissue, showing the pro-life advocates posing as tissue buyers the different parts of the body. 

But the things Fiorina describes — the legs kicking, the intact "fully formed fetus," the heart beating, the remarks about having to "harvest its brain" — are pure fiction.

It's very interesting how Fiorina talks about women being half the potential in this country, and in a field of 15 candidates, she's the only woman.

StupidiNews!

• Pakistani Taliban forces attacked an air base, resulting in 29 dead, including 16 Pakistani soldiers and airmen.
• Nevada's state water agency has approved a $45 million deal that would provide surplus water for Southern California now, with the option to buy it back later.
• The final Senate Republican move to block the international nuclear deal with Iran has failed a vote, meaning the deal will go forward as a major victory for the Obama administration.
• Greek voters will go to the polls on Sunday to decide a replacement government for outgoing PM Alexis Tsipras, but final predictions are too close to call.
• American Airlines has resumed service after a computer glitch Thursday knocked out hundreds of American flights out of Chicago, Dallas, and Miami flight hubs.