Winners Selected for First Media Awards for Coverage of Affordable Housing Crisis

February 9, 2007
PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Nicole Letourneau (202) 662-1530 x227 nicole@nlihc.org

Journalists in Miami, Washington, DC and Long Beach, Sacramento, Stockton and Pasadena, CA Win Awards Named For Housing Advocate Cushing N. Dolbeare

Washington, DC - Journalists in Miami, Washington, DC and Long Beach, Sacramento, Stockton and Pasadena, CA won first-place prizes in six categories of media awards recognizing exemplary coverage of the affordable housing crisis in the United States. The awards are named in honor of the late Cushing N. Dolbeare, long-time housing advocate and founder of the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC).

First-place winners will each receive $2,500 and be honored at a reception on February 26, 2007 at the Capital Hilton in Washington, DC. Honorable mentions will be recognized.

Single Story: Daily Newspaper (circulation less than 100,000)

1^ST PLACE: In "High prices for dismal housing" Press-Telegram (Long Beach, CA) staff writer Greg Mellen tackled a very important but somewhat invisible social problem. Mellen included important data on the lack of affordable housing but personalized it with vivid examples. By introducing some proposed solutions, he presented a well-rounded story that is indicative of housing affordability issues nationwide. Read the story: www.presstelegram.com/poverty/ci_4675760

Single Story: Daily Newspaper (circulation above 100,001)

1^st PLACE: Sacramento Bee staff writer Jocelyn Wiener's article "Priced out of paradise" focused on the communities surrounding Lake Tahoe, CA, which, like many popular resort areas, suffer from a mismatch between low wages and high and rising housing costs. Using personal stories to show how the problem affects low-wage workers and the well-being of communities, the piece sets a great example for how to report on a problem that affects many resort areas.

HONORABLE MENTION: "Houses affordable for everyone" by Michele Derus, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Single Story: Non-Daily Newspaper or Magazine

1^st PLACE: "Lost Among the Ruins" by Brendan Smith, news editor at Washington, DC-based Legal Times, is an example of solid investigative reporting on the problems with housing code enforcement and the impact of lax enforcement on low income households. Smith's story raised the visibility of code enforcement as a crucial tool in maintaining the supply of safe and affordable housing and resulted in action to improve enforcement. Read the story: www.law.com/jsp/dc/PubArticleDC.jsp?id=1159347927230

HONORABLE MENTION: "A Tale of Two Center Cities" by Violet Law, Pittsburgh City Paper Read the story: www.cparchives.com/archive.cfm?type=Main%20Feature&pagenum=4&action=getComplete&ref=6559

Series of articles: Daily Newspaper (circulation less than 100,000)

1^st PLACE: While many newspapers covered the run-up in homes sales prices from the viewpoint of real estate brokers and home sellers who would benefit from the increases, reporter Greg Kane of The Record (Stockton, CA) made a concerted effort to look at the downside of the boom in "The Other Side of the Housing Boom." In a well-planned series, Kane thoroughly examined the impact of fast-rising housing costs using good factual information and many personal stories to show the impact on working class families, senior citizens, residents of government-assisted housing and the organizations that try to provide affordable housing. Read the series: www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=A_SPECIAL05

HONORABLE MENTION: Untitled series by Michael Daigle, The Daily Record (Parsippany, NJ)

Series of articles: Daily Newspaper (circulation above 100,001)

1^st PLACE: In The Miami Herald series "House of lies," reporter Debbie Cenziper exemplified the very best practices of investigative reporting by documenting in incredible detail the poor performance of the Miami-Dade Housing Agency. In more than 30 stories, Cenziper deconstructed years of mismanagement and potential malfeasance at the agency, sparking public outrage and leading to corrective action. Read the series: www.miami.com/multimedia/miami/news/archive/housing/index.html

HONORABLE MENTION: "Lead's dangerous legacy" by Sharon Coolidge, The Cincinnati Enquirer Read the series: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=newslead

HONORABLE MENTION: "Homeless on the Wai'anae Coast" by Will Hoover and Rob Perez, The Honolulu Advertiser Read the series: http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/current/ln/homeless

Series of articles: Non-Daily Newspaper or Magazine

1^st PLACE: The series "Throwaway Kids" by Joe Piasecki, deputy editor of Pasadena Weekly (CA), sheds light on the problem of foster children who, when they leave the state-supervised and state-funded world of foster care, often end up living on the streets and becoming easy prey for drug dealers and criminals. In a compelling narrative, Piasecki tells the story of several "street kids," mixing the personal stories with solid factual explanation of the flaws in the foster care and homeless programs that should be helping them. Read the series:

www.pasadenaweekly.com/article.php?id=3559&IssueNum=25
www.pasadenaweekly.com/article.php?id=3587&IssueNum=26
www.pasadenaweekly.com/article.php?id=3609&IssueNum=27
www.pasadenaweekly.com/article.php?id=3624&IssueNum=28
www.pasadenaweekly.com/article.php?id=3643&IssueNum=29
www.pasadenaweekly.com/article.php?id=3660&IssueNum=30
www.pasadenaweekly.com/article.php?id=4156&IssueNum=52

HONORABLE MENTION: "Broken Promises" by William Selway, Martin Z. Braun and David Dietz, Bloomberg News (New York) Read the series: www.bloomberg.com/news/marketsmag/broken_promises1.html

Background on awards:

Dolbeare, who died in 2005, began NLIHC in 1974 in response to the Nixon Administration's moratorium on federal housing programs. She was one of the nation's leading experts on federal housing policy and the housing circumstances of low income people.

Sheila Crowley, NLIHC President, said, "Cushing Dolbeare believed that a well-informed public was the bedrock of our democracy and the key to solving our housing problems. In her name, the National Low Income Housing Coalition is honored to recognize journalists who have made a dedicated effort to inform the public about the inequities in housing and to add to the understanding of the disparities between the well-housed and the poorly or un-housed in a community."

The awards are presented by NLIHC and were made possible by a grant from Andre Shashaty, who serves as editor in chief of Affordable Housing Finance magazine, a publication of Hanley Wood, LLC.

Shashaty said, "Through these awards, we hope to encourage reporters who are doing reporting that raises awareness about the housing problems faced by low income people and potential solutions to the affordable housing shortage. The housing crisis in America is growing each year and we hope more members of the media will begin to follow the excellent example of this year's winners."

Judges included Crowley, Shashaty, Linda Leaks, co-founder, District of Columbia Grassroots Empowerment Project, Karen Naungayan, Communications Director, Housing California, and Dr. William J. Ruehlmann, Professor of Journalism, Virginia Wesleyan College.

NLIHC is a membership organization dedicated solely to ending America's affordable housing crisis. NLIHC educates, organizes and advocates to ensure decent, affordable housing within healthy neighborhoods for everyone.

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