Over the last two decades homeowners and investors have increasingly treated housing as a financial asset, like stocks or bonds. How has this changed the housing market for the worse, and how can we fix it?
Making Money Over Making Homes
Housing has become less about shelter and more about extracting profit. How has that way of thinking changed the market and what are housing advocates trying to do about it? In our new series—Homes or Cash Cows—Shelterforce explores the financialization of housing.
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This Manufactured Home Park Will Soon Be Boat Storage, But One Resident Stays to...
Angela Kaufman purchased what she thought would be her longtime home in a mobile home community. Less than a year after she moved, the park was sold and residents were told they had to go.
Sealing the Cracks in Weatherization and Home Repair
Deferred home maintenance can lead to serious structural, safety, and health issues. A new program in Pennsylvania aims to fill the gaps in home repair and weatherization programs.
Did LA’s Supportive Housing Bond Fail?
Six years after Prop HHH was passed, the fund appears to be delivering on its housing construction goals in the 10-year timeline, but the measure is being routinely criticized on all sides for delays, rising costs, and being an inadequate fix to LA’s homelessness crisis.
Unfair Market Rents: How Inflation Is Skewing FMRs
"Fair market rents" are set by HUD and used to determine how much federal assistance programs will pay toward rent. But with rental costs rising so rapidly, they aren't keeping up.
Considering Geographic Equity
When we talk about equity, we’re typically talking about individuals or neighborhoods. But what about the imbalance in power and access to resources between entire metropolitan areas?
Tenant Screening Companies Profit from Eviction Records, Driving Housing Insecurity
Sealing eviction records at the point of filing is an urgent step toward dismantling harmful tenant screening practices.
Proposed CRA Rule Receives Mixed Reviews from Housers
Public comment is open through Aug. 5 on proposed Community Reinvestment Act rule changes. They are worlds better than the Trump-era proposal. Why are some advocates still disappointed?
Q: Would More Housing Vouchers Increase Rents?
A: So far, researchers haven't found that an increase in vouchers by itself causes rents to rise.
Dear CDFI Colleagues: It’s Time to be Transparent About Salaries in Job Postings
Companies that value meritocracy perform worse with pay equity when their internal policies do not align with their public-facing statements regarding pay.
