Census data from last year showed more African-Americans from Northern metropolitan areas like New York and Chicago are moving to Southern cities like Atlanta and Kansas City. It’s what’s known as reverse migration. And new analysis done on that census data led by Brown University, shows that a consequence of reverse migration is desegregation, as suburban neighborhoods in some Southern cities become more racially integrated.

America’s shrinking cities might want to take note of a new alternative bubbling up from Detroit’s ongoing battle with blight. In truth, the idea is more old school than new: Why demolish when you could deconstruct and re-purpose the remains of ruin into a job creation tool?

Detroit is besieged with at least 60,000 reasons to consider the question. That is the number of abandoned homes and buildings around the city, depending on who’s counting. In fairness, the question belongs to a number of American cities where demolition has long seemed the only alternative. But the concept of deconstruction is rising to challenge that conventional notion in the city perhaps most synonymous with decay. 

On the heels of the debt ceiling crisis, Congress has established a "super committee" to find ways to reduce America's debt.  The twelve-member committee began work on debt-reduction strategies this week, aiming to come up with a plan to reduce the deficit by $1.5 trillion by Thanksgiving of this year. But as lawmakers lock horns over where to find spending cuts, we've been asking our listeners for suggestions on how to fix the economy. One suggestion our listeners had was to boost housing prices.

Hundreds of thousands of homeowners who took out loans with Countrywide, and were overcharged for their loans when they fell behind on their payments can expect some money back soon. It's taken over a year for the Federal Trade Commission to figure out who will get parts of a $108 million settlement reached last summer with Countrywide. Countrywide will begin mailing checks today. Wells Fargo, the largest U.S. home lender, has also agreed to a steep fine of $85 million, for roping borrowers into costlier-than-necessary loans.

One month ago today, President Obama visited the town of Joplin, Missouri, where a tornado killed 156 people and caused millions of dollars in damage. Today we’re going back to the scene of the devastation to see how Joplin residents are recovering one month after President Obama told Joplin, "There’s no doubt in my mind that Joplin will rebuild. And as President, I can promise you your country will be there with you every single step of the way...The cameras may leave. The spotlight may shift. But we will be with you every step of the way until Joplin is restored and this community is back on its feet. We’re not going anywhere."

All the jawing and insult throwing has ceased for the time being as negotiations heat up on Capitol Hill over the debt ceiling. Vice President Joe Biden said there are four meetings scheduled, and "now we're getting down to the really hard stuff." Todd Zwillich, The Takeaway's Washington Correspondent, says Congress would love to get an agreement by the 4th of July—way ahead of the deadline in August. 

As Washington tries to get the debt ceiling squared away, the Federal Reserve will meet on Wednesday to discuss interest rates. Housing numbers have been consistently awful for some time now, with no sense of relief in sight. Charlie Herman, economics editor for The Takeaway and WNYC, looks at what we can expect from Wednesday's meeting, and whether or not it's likely that the Fed will decide to leave interest rates close to zero.

The Treasury Department was given $46 billion to keep homeowners in their houses in 2009, but has spent less than $2 billion of that money. In April, there were more than four million mortgages in foreclosure or 90 days delinquent. The New York Times' Andrew Martin says that the primary cause of foreclosures is unemployment and that the U.S. government has not focused nearly enough attention on the problem. 

The S&P / Case-Shiller home price index report released Monday showed housing prices dropped in many parts of the country between February and March to their lowest level since the bubble burst in 2006. Behind those numbers, American families and American dreams were shattered by a mix of predatory lending, devalued home prices and complicated derivative trading on Wall Street. 

Joplin, Missouri is trying to pick up the pieces from last week’s massive tornado. In addition to killing 134 people, more than 8,000 homes and apartments were destroyed or damaged in the 200 mile an hour winds — between 25 and 30 percent of the housing market. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, says more than 7,000 Joplin residents in Jasper and Newton counties have registered for assistance so far, and they are still assessing how to best assist them.

Two years after The Great Recession officially came to a close, housing prices have dropped to their lowest levels since 2006. A Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller report showed the home price index dropping 4.2 percent last month, aided in part by the growing number of foreclosures, and a reluctance on the part of new buyers. 

On Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal's Kelly Evans delivered stark news to recent homeowners. She reported that "since house prices peaked in 2006, the average home equity loss is $105,000 per homeowner." Evans was reacting to the latest Case-Shiller report, which showed that between February and March, housing prices dropped in 18 out of 20 major metro areas. Driven in part by foreclosures, a glut of unsold homes and the reluctance of new purchases, many home prices reached their lowest level since the bubble burst in 2006.  

The House of Representatives voted 218 to 109 yesterday to end one of President Obama's signature economic plans, the Home Affordable Modification Program. The program was expected to help more than 4 million homeowners keep their homes, instead of the underwhelming 600,000 it managed to help — rendering it a flop. Meanwhile, the housing market remains in trouble, with sales and prices continuing to fall. Louise Story, Wall Street and finance reporter for The New York Times, has the latest on HAMP, and why housing is having an incredibly difficult time getting out of the dumps.

New home sales numbers for February are expected out today, following Monday's release of existing home sales, which fell 9.6 percent according to the National Association of Retailers. With the economy improving, this breaks the usual mold of home sales and the economy mirroring each other. Louise Story, Wall Street and finance reporter for The New York Times is watching the housing market and the way different economists are seeing the decreased prices. Is it about housing affordability or a scary dip in the market?

In the 1980s and 1990s banks avoided lending in minority neighborhoods and Blacks and Latinos were denied mortgages at disproportionately higher rates than equally credit-worthy whites. Redlining and mortgage discrimination was the norm. It seemed those days came to an end in the 2000s, when mortgage lenders began lending eagerly to anyone they could, and instead of being accused of avoiding minority borrowers, faced accusations of predatory lending in minority communities. However, now the tide has turned once again.

The death of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has been a long time in the making. For the past four decades the way homes have been financed in this country has been dictated by a kind of public-private partnership. Fannie and Freddie bought mortgages from banks and sold them to investors in the form of securities. The system worked because the government implied that if homeowners defaulted, the government would be there to bail those loans out. In 2008 the government essentially did that during the housing crisis. But now the two companies are political untouchable.

A dip in housing prices is causing concerns that we might be headed for a double-dip in the market this spring. Louise Story, Wall Street and Finance Reporter for The New York Times, says the latest housing numbers out by the Case-Shiller Index raises more questions than answers about the housing market in the near term.

Two years ago, Galveston, Texas was hit hard by Hurricane Ike, leaving thousands of homes destroyed or badly damaged. Then about a year ago, over $160 million was released to the city to help residents repair and reconstruct their homes. However, many of those residents, like Antonio Hale, still have not seen a dime. Harvey Rice, a Galveston based reporter for the Houston Chronicle, has been covering this ongoing battle between Galveston's home owners and the red tape they are fighting through. 

Big banks and over-committed mortgage-holders have been under the foreclosure microscope for a long time. Foreclosure lawyers are next up for scrutiny; according to an article from The New York Times, an increasing number of judges are accusing lawyers of processing inaccurate and even fabricated documents in foreclosure actions when representing banks. Are these accusations accurate, and if so, what is the source of the problem? 

Over the past two years, we’ve been told to expect a silver lining to the housing crisis.  At a first glance, the release of tomorrow’s foreclosure numbers should add to that optimism, as analysts expect the number of new foreclosures to drop dramatically.  But does that mean we’ve truly passed the worst moments of the housing crisis?

As foreclosures continue around the country, neighborhoods — and the important social fabric they create in communities — are taking a hit.