Latest news with #Tlaib
USA Today
24-06-2025
- Business
- USA Today
Lawmakers press Fed chair on rates as home prices and rents keep rising
As the housing crisis deepens across the United States, policymakers are increasingly looking for answers. On June 24, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., brought concerns about how housing costs impact her constituents to an unlikely venue: the semiannual testimony of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Capitol Hill. More than half of the Black women in the counties Tlaib represents have experienced some sort of eviction, she said, citing data published in an academic journal. Those numbers, she said, are 'horrific,' considering how traumatic evictions can be, and how they diminish access to equitable housing conditions. But it's just one statistic. A report out Tuesday from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University highlighted the challenges across the country: Insurance premiums and property taxes are surging, high rents have left record numbers of Americans burdened by costs and pushed many into homelessness, and persistently high mortgage rates are locking first-time buyers out of the market and fraying the American Dream. Against that backdrop, Tlaib pressed Powell to explain the Fed's rationale for monetary policy that keeps interest rates high. She asked, don't high rates keep a lid on new construction, which leads to higher prices if supply doesn't keep up with demand? 'There's a longer run shortage of housing in the U.S., which there's nothing the Fed can do about,' Powell responded. 'In the short run rates are high,' he acknowledged, 'and that's going to weigh on housing activity, but the best thing we can do for the housing market is to restore price stability so that rates come down.' 'They're both right,' said Selma Hepp, chief economist with real estate data provider Cotality. 'It's natural to look at the issue of mortgage rates right now because it's low-hanging fruit but this is a long-term problem,' Hepp told USA TODAY. In fact, levels of new housing construction have consistently fallen short, year after year, ever since the subprime housing bubble burst almost two decades ago. Meanwhile, construction expenses like land and labor have ballooned in the past few years – rising at nearly double the rate of overall inflation, Hepp said. Tariffs on construction materials will only exacerbate that. Tlaib isn't the only one looking for outside-the-box solutions to the housing crisis. A bipartisan group of representatives including Wisconsin Republican Scott Fitzgerald and New York Democrat Grace Meng have urged the Trump administration to release Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from government conservatorship and invest an expected $250 billion windfall from the transaction into middle-class housing. 'I'm glad that members of Congress are raising this issue,' Hepp said, adding Tlaib and others are right to point out the human cost of the housing crisis, which they see in their own districts – for renters as well as owners. 'Ideally, I'd love to see less finger-pointing and more solutions,' Hepp said.
Qatar Tribune
10-05-2025
- Politics
- Qatar Tribune
Children among 21 killed in Israel's attacks on Gaza amid aid blockade
Agencies Gaza At least 21 people, including several children, have been killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since dawn amid a months-long Israeli blockade that has deepened the humanitarian crisis in the war-torn coastal enclave. Four Palestinians were killed and others were wounded Saturday evening after an Israeli airstrike targeted a tent sheltering displaced families in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip. Earlier, Palestinian news agency Wafa said Israeli warplanes bombed a tent in the Sabra neighbourhood of Gaza City on Saturday morning, killing five members of the Tlaib family. 'Three children, their mother and her husband were sleeping inside a tent and were bombed by an [Israeli] occupation aircraft,' family member Omar Abu al-Kass told the AFP news agency. The strikes came 'without warning and without having done anything wrong', added Abu al-Kass, who said he was the children's maternal grandfather. In parallel, a drone attack on Gaza City's Tuffah neighbourhood left six people dead and one more in the Sheikh Radwan area of the city where Israel bombed an apartment belonging to the Zaqout family. Further south, Wafa said Israeli gunboats opened 'heavy fire' on the shores of Rafah, killing a man identified as Mohammed Saeed al-Bardawil. Two more civilians were injured in an attack on the al-Mawasi humanitarian zone, west of Rafah. In the past 24 hours, at least 23 Palestinians have been killed and 124 others injured in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip, according to the enclave's Health Ministry. The attacks came amid Israel's continuing refusal to allow vital supplies into Gaza since March 2, leaving the enclave's 2.3 million residents dependent on a dwindling number of charity kitchens, which have been shutting down in recent days as food runs out. Reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, Al Jazeera's Hind Khoudary said: 'There's barely food … We're talking about bakeries not operating, we're talking about zero distribution points and we're talking about only a few hot meal kitchens still operating.' Khoudary said people queueing for hours would often leave empty-handed, with remaining kitchens stretching out food that would previously have fed 100 to serve up to 2,000 people. 'We're seeing more people dying, we're seeing more children dying due to malnutrition and the lack of food. But it's not only the lack of food, it's also the lack of medical supplies, it's the lack of fuel, cooking gas and it's the lack of everything,' she said. Among the charities shuttering operations, the United States-based World Central Kitchen said on Wednesday that it had been forced to close down because it no longer had supplies to bake bread or cook meals. The United Nations' Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs appealed for the blockade to be lifted. 'Children are starving, and dying. Community kitchens are shutting down. Clean water is running out,' it said on Friday in a post on X.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Children among several killed in Israel's attacks on Gaza amid aid blockade
Seven people, including three children, have been killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip amid a months-long Israeli blockade that has deepened the humanitarian crisis in the war-torn coastal enclave. Palestinian news agency Wafa said Israeli warplanes bombed a tent in the Sabra neighbourhood of Gaza City on Saturday morning, killing five members of the Tlaib family. 'Three children, their mother and her husband were sleeping inside a tent and were bombed by an [Israeli] occupation aircraft,' family member Omar Abu al-Kass told the AFP news agency. The strikes came 'without warning and without having done anything wrong', added Abu al-Kass, who said he was the children's maternal grandfather. In parallel, a drone attack on Gaza City's Tuffah neighbourhood left one person dead. Further south, Wafa said Israeli gunboats opened 'heavy fire' on the shores of Rafah, killing a man identified as Mohammed Saeed al-Bardawil. Two more civilians were injured in an attack on the al-Mawasi humanitarian zone, west of Rafah. In the past 24 hours, at least 23 Palestinians have been killed and 124 others injured in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip, according to the enclave's Health Ministry. The attacks came amid Israel's continuing refusal to allow vital supplies into Gaza since March 2, leaving the enclave's 2.3 million residents dependent on a dwindling number of charity kitchens, which have been shutting down in recent days as food runs out. Reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, Al Jazeera's Hind Khoudary said: 'There's barely food … We're talking about bakeries not operating, we're talking about zero distribution points and we're talking about only a few hot meal kitchens still operating.' Khoudary said people queueing for hours would often leave empty-handed, with remaining kitchens stretching out food that would previously have fed 100 to serve up to 2,000 people. 'We're seeing more people dying, we're seeing more children dying due to malnutrition and the lack of food. But it's not only the lack of food, it's also the lack of medical supplies, it's the lack of fuel, cooking gas and it's the lack of everything,' she the charities shuttering operations, the United States-based World Central Kitchen said on Wednesday that it had been forced to close down because it no longer had supplies to bake bread or cook meals. The United Nations' Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs appealed for the blockade to be lifted. 'Children are starving, and dying. Community kitchens are shutting down. Clean water is running out,' it said on Friday in a post on X. The blockade is also having a devastating effect on people with chronic illnesses, depriving Palestinians who suffer from diabetes, cancer and rare conditions, of life-saving medication. Reporting from Gaza City, Al Jazeera's Hani Mahmoud said: 'Doctors here say the tragedy is not in what's happening, but in what is preventable.' 'These diseases have a treatment, but people of Gaza no longer have access to them, and they say that this is not just a failure of logistics, but of humanity,' he added. Mahmoud spoke to the father of a 10-year-old boy suffering from diabetes, who said insulin was not available across northern Gaza. 'I spend entire days searching pharmacies, hoping to find it. Sometimes we hear that individuals might have it, so I go to their homes to barter,' he said. Said al-Soudy, head of emergency in the oncology department of Gaza City's Al Helou International Hospital, told Al Jazeera: 'A large part of patients are struggling to find their essential medications. Without them, their health conditions deteriorate and may become life-threatening.' Pharmacist Rana Alsamak told Al Jazeera that Palestinians were unable to obtain medication for 'multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, hepatitis, chronic illnesses and … immune-related diseases'. 'These conditions now go largely untreated,' she said. On Friday, the United States said it was establishing the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to coordinate aid deliveries into Gaza, with Israel providing military security for operations. The United Nations rejected the move, saying it would weaponise aid, violate principles of neutrality and cause mass displacement.
Egypt Today
10-05-2025
- Politics
- Egypt Today
7 civilians killed, others injured in Israeli airstrikes on cities of Gaza, Rafah
Stop war written on woman's hand demanding end of war in Gaza CAIRO - 10 May 2025: Seven civilians, including five members of one family, were killed and others were injured early Saturday morning as a result of Israeli shelling of the cities of Gaza and Rafah, Palestinian news agency (WAFA) said. Local sources reported that Israeli warplanes bombed a tent housing displaced persons in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City, killing five civilians from the Tlaib family: Saqr Ahmed Fouad Tlaib, his wife Hind, and their sons Ahmed, Hamza, and Abdul Aziz. They added that an Israeli drone targeted civilians in the Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City, killing one person, while areas east of the Shuja'iyya neighborhood were also targeted. Israeli warships opened heavy fire toward the shore of Rafah city in the southern Gaza Strip, killing Muhammad Saeed al-Bardawil. Two civilians were injured by Israeli artillery shelling of the Mawasi area west of Rafah.
Ammon
10-05-2025
- Politics
- Ammon
Several civilians killed in Israeli airstrikes on cities of Gaza and Rafah
Ammon News - Seven citizens, including five members of one family, were killed and others were injured early Saturday morning as a result of Israeli shelling of the cities of Gaza and Rafah. Local sources reported that Israeli warplanes bombed a tent housing displaced persons in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City, killing five citizens from the Tlaib family: Saqr Ahmed Fouad Tlaib, his wife Hind, and their sons Ahmed, Hamza, and Abdul Aziz. They added that an Israeli drone targeted citizens in the Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City, killing one citizen, while areas east of the Shuja'iyya neighborhood were also targeted. Israeli warships opened heavy fire toward the shore of Rafah city in the southern Gaza Strip, killing Muhammad Saeed al-Bardawil.
