Senator Reed's quirky housing fix lands on Time's web site:

There’s an old Lily Tomlin joke where she says, “Wouldn’t it be great if all the people in New York who talk to themselves were paired off, so it looks like they’re talking to each other?”

In a similar spirit, apparently, Senator Jack Reed (D-R.I.) has proposed a solution to America’s foreclosure problem (i.

The Providence Phoenix gathered a nice little clutch of awards at this weekend's New England Newspaper & Press Association's annual fete - this one covering work from mid-2009 to mid-2010.

The paper took first place in the religious reporting category for a piece on Brown University biology professor Ken Miller's quest to reconcile religion and evolutionary theory - to the consternation of the atheist crowd.

As advocates for the homeless press the General Assembly to maintain funding for the 10-year-old Neighborhood Opportunities Program, which has provided for some 1200 affordable housing units in the last decade, I take a broader look in today's Phoenix at the push to end homelessness in Rhode Island.

Ending homelessness might have seemed a fantasy a decade ago.

On Friday, I wrote about the Obama Administration's new approach to the foreclosure crisis, suggesting it was a victory of sorts for Senator Jack Reed and others in Congress who have sought to shift the White House's attention from those who took up risky mortages - the first wave of the crisis - to unemployed folk who can't keep up on their payments - the second wave.

The Obama Administration's announcement today of a broad new effort to deal with the nation's foreclosure crisis represents, in part, a triumph for Senator Jack Reed and other members of Congress who have been agitating for a shift in strategy.

The initiative, which draws upon existing TARP funds, seeks to help millions of struggling homeowners by refinancing them into new, government-backed mortgages.

Rhode Island's struggles with unemployment and homelessness continue to land in the national press. The latest account, on The Atlantic's web site, personalizes the issue with a look at a newly homeless young father:

Douglas Edward Coates is polite, soft spoken, and articulate. He looks like a typical 29-year-old professional in his black wool coat and wire-rimmed glasses, his sandy hair and goatee neatly cropped.

In this week's Phoenix, Marion Davis writes about Housing First.

Think of permanent housing not as something you earn, but as a human right, and as a foundation people need to rebuild their lives.

It's called Housing First, and since its beginnings in New York City in the early 1990s, it has been proven to more effectively move people out of homelessness — especially chronic cases — than the traditional system of shelters and tightly structured social services.

An action being staged later this week by Ocean State Action and some other groups:

Next Wednesday, Dec. 10 - Join us as we say, "Housing is a human right"
Dec. 5, 2008

JOIN THE PEOPLE'S BAILOUT WEEK OF ACTION in PROVIDENCE:
While the banks get bailed out, they are throwing families out of their homes.

From Rasmussen Reports:

As the Senate inches toward passage of a $300 billion bill to help homeowners facing foreclosure, a new Rasmussen Reports national survey shows that only 21% of voters think the federal government should provide such assistance.

Slightly more than half (51%) say the government should not help these troubled homeowners and 27% are undecided.