"The residents of East Baltimore have been promised many things over the last few decades," said Leslie Lewis, 41, a lifelong resident of the area who will be relocated for the construction. "There have been other projects that have come through and yet they have all failed."

Meanwhile, Beazer Homes USA said yesterday that employees had "violated certain U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development ... regulations, particularly in relation to Down Payment Assistance programs." The New York Times reports that:

Beazer’s statements came as it reported that sales of new homes plunged in the third quarter. It also said it would restate several years of financial statements, with changes going back to 1999, because it had improperly used reserves to first hide earnings and then to overstate them.

The Washington Post reports on new Commerce Department numbers showing a U.S. economy "in transition":

The weak housing market is making consumers spend their money more carefully. That in turn means that retailers import fewer goods from abroad, lowering the trade deficit.

Simultaneously, the slower U.S. economy and lower interest rates mean that the dollar is less valuable compared with other currencies than it was a few months ago. That makes U.S. goods cheaper and exporters more competitive than they have been in recent years, creating a source of growth that will ease the pain of the housing crunch.

By the way, Post staffers will be answering questions about the Washington-area housing market in a live chat at 1 p.m. today. Go here to ask one.

Holden Lewis of Bankrate.com has a piece about that soon-to-be-enacted ban on seller-financed down payment assistance for FHA loans. (Click here to see my blog post about Maryland-based AmeriDream's lawsuit to stop the ban.) 

And remember those foreclosure numbers from yesterday? Read more about them in my story today, which notes that impending auctions and bank repossessions are increasing more quickly in Maryland than nationwide:

"The picture in Maryland is a troubling picture, and we cannot deny that. In virtually every corner of the state, foreclosure events have increased dramatically," said Thomas E. Perez, the state secretary of labor, licensing and regulation. "Given that there are so many adjustable-rate mortgage loans that are going to adjust upward in the near future, I'm very fearful that it will be some time before the problem truly abates."