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Politics

HUD Secretary Donovan on the Importance of Broadband to Housing



Melanie Wyne | 2010/03/14  | 15 Comments

Like highways in the 20th century

If you’re in your feed reader, you may need to visit the site to see the below video.

Imagine my utter delight to see the housing policy and tech policy worlds collide this week when HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan spoke of the importance of broadband access for all and how HUD is working to make it happen. In these brief remarks Secretary Donovan describes HUD’s initiative to bring broadband to federally assisted housing.

Do you agree that broadband should be made available to all Americans including access in federally assisted housing? Do you think HUD’s approach, namely public/private partnerships is the best way to accomplish this goal?


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This article published on Sunday, March 14th, 2010 at 11:47 am | Contact the editor

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Topics: Politics

About this Columnist (Full Profile)

Melanie is the Senior Technology Policy Representative at the National Association of Realtors. That means she lobbies Congress and Federal Agencies on technology policy issues of importance to the real estate industry. In her pre-NAR life Melanie has been a practicing attorney and a software start-up executive. Like any native Californian, Melanie loves good wine and bountiful farmers markets.

Email Melanie Wyne



Comments (15)

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  1. Real Estate Feeds:

    HUD Secretary Donovan on the Importance of Broadband to Housing: Like highways in the 20th century
    If you’re in yo… http://bit.ly/bVqRgm
  2. Spake Communications:

    HUD Secretary Donovan on the Importance of Broadband to Housing: Interesting tie in to the Google Fiber Project.. http://bit.ly/aG4oGJ
  3. Memphis Real Estate:

    HUD Secretary Donovan on the Importance of Broadband to Housing: Interesting tie in to the Google Fiber Project.. http://bit.ly/aG4oGJ
  4. Natasha Hall:

    HUD Secretary Donovan on the Importance of Broadband to Housing http://ow.ly/16NPBE
  5. Nelbee:

    HUD Secretary Donovan on the Importance of Broadband to Housing http://bit.ly/bWsl2Y @AgentGenius
  6. BHG Real Estate:

    HUD Secretary Donovan on the Importance of Broadband to Housing http://ow.ly/1krNg
  7. Is Broadband the New Running Water? | Real Estate Industry Blog:

    [...] Tuesday, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan discussed the importance of broadband access for all. Arguing that Internet access in the 21st Century should be approached the same way as highways in [...]
  8. Melanie Wyne:

    Thanks for RT @broadband4us. http://bit.ly/bqrfkG
  9. AgentGenius:

    #agnow [...] Tuesday, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan discussed the importance of broadband access for all. Arguing tha… http://bit.ly/dcR36r
  10. Blindly transparent « Closer To Pittsburgh:

    [...] Broadband, by the way, is also a good thing for housing as HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan recently discussed. [...]
  11. Weekly summary of real estate news, Memphis comments, and other interesting stuff – March 18th - Memphis Real Estate Buzz:

    [...] Shared HUD Secretary Donovan on the Importance of Broadband to Housing. [...]
  12. AgentGenius:

    #agnow Thanks for posting, Melanie.

    I've heard arguments against people's right to broadband Internet, most of… http://bit.ly/dcR36r
  13. AgentGenius:

    #agnow [...] Broadband, by the way, is also a good thing for housing as HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan recently discus… http://bit.ly/dcR36r
  14. AgentGenius:

    #agnow [...] Shared HUD Secretary Donovan on the Importance of Broadband to Housing. [...] http://bit.ly/dcR36r
  1. Nick Sweeney, DotLoop Social Media says:
    2010/03/15 at 10:40 am

    Thanks for posting, Melanie.

    I’ve heard arguments against people’s right to broadband Internet, most of which were re-hashed arguments against other new technologies that have since become ingrained in our society. Would anyone think that the poor should not have access to running water, electricity, or a telephone? When all of these technologies first arrived on the scene, the same arguments were made: “it’s not a right, it’s a convenience;” “you can survive without a telephone;” etc. I would argue that the Internet is so ubiquitous in American society that not having access to it would negatively affect one’s ability to life in the modern age. Just one example: imagine job-hunting without access to the Internet.

    As for whether enterprise should be involved, I think doing so is a major misstep, especially for the Internet, which should remain a bastion of free speech. Corporations are required to only care about their bottom line, and not freedom of speech. Imagine if a corporation gave you access to the Internet and they shut you down when you blogged something unsavory about them. Oh wait,it already happened:

    scholarsandrogues.wordpress.com/2007/10/01/att-say-bad-things-about-us-and-well-cancel-your-internets/

    I think the more options we have with Internet access, the better, The problem is, though, that America only has 11 major Internet providers, which severely limits our access as it is (huffingtonpost.com/timothy-karr/communications-breakdown_b_494874.html).

    Just my $.02. Thanks for posting!

    Reply

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