The ambitious funding campaign took strong cross-movement organizing and the right political moment.

AFFH: Third Time’s the Charm?

What’s the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing provision? How has it been enforced in the past? And what do fair housing advocates think of the proposed changes? Shelterforce’s new Under the Lens series—New AFFH Rules: What You Need to Know—explores that and more.

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A dark-skinned woman in a red blouse stands holding a mic and looking at a screen on which is projected "What are TIFs?" with several bullet points beneath in much smaller type. Behind her is a curtain, and in the corner a table and chair with some meeting materials on them. The audience she is speaking to is not visible.

Tax Increment Financing (TIF): Revitalization Tool, Developer Handout … or Both?

Tax increment financing attracts development in disinvested areas, but it also diverts millions of tax revenue away from city services to investors. And some claim officials are using the program in racist and corrupt ways. What is TIF? And how does it work?
A nighttime view of Los Angeles from a distance, with glittering lights and above them a sky that's not altogether dark.

How Los Angeles Won the Largest Municipal Housing Program in the Country

The ambitious funding campaign took strong cross-movement organizing and the right political moment.
A broadly smiling woman with dark skin and braids, wearing a black shirt with a green-leaf logo on it, stands in front of a medium-blue wall. A business name, The Olive Street Agency, with the green-leaf logo, is printed (or affixed) to the wall in white capital letters.

CDFIs Shouldn’t Act Like Banks, But Too Often Do

When receiving bank funding, CDFIs often limit their investments in accordance with bank restrictions. How can reforms to the Community Reinvestment Act help center the needs of underserved communities?
Closeup of a weatherbeaten wooden sign that says Vacancies in block letters across the top, and underneath that, No, and underneath that, another No.

LA Isn’t Enforcing Its Section 8 Discrimination Ban. Could This Lawsuit Change the Tide?

In 2019, Los Angeles passed an ordinance banning discrimination against Section 8 voucher holders. But it has never sued to enforce the protection.
An aerial view of Madison, Wisconsin, with a lake in the foreground, the capital dome visible beyond it, and the city stretching beyond that.

Who Can Afford Housing in Madison, Wisconsin?

The city is growing fast and building a lot of housing. But the new housing isn’t keeping pace with the need, especially for high-income and extremely low-income earners.

Eminent and Notorious: Radical Urban Planner Chester Hartman (1936-2023)

An appreciation of the life and work of Chester Hartman, a radical planner in the service of a vision of social justice.
A two-story magenta building is sandwiched between two larger apartment buildings at dusk.

Philanthropy Has Been Trying to Buy Buildings for the Arts for Years. Now We...

San Francisco’s CounterPulse shows how arts organizations can take advantage of a lease-to-own model.
An early 1900s three- or four-story hotel on a street corner, seen from street level against a bright blue cloudless sky. Built of pink sandstone with light green trim. The ground floor has businesses; the sidewalk is crowded with parked scooters and a red cafe umbrella.

What LA’s New Shelter Program Can Learn from Statewide Efforts

As LA’s Inside Safe program works to transition unhoused Angelenos from hotels into permanent housing, its leaders should look to California’s Project Roomkey for lessons.

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