News from—and affecting—the community development world. This week: fast food swamps, Seattle has too many apartments, criminal justice, basic income pilot, more.
Dear Business School Professors: You’re Wrong, Rent Control Works
A university study on rent control makes three crucial mistakes in its assessment of the policy's effect on San Francisco's housing market. Housing advocacy organization Tenants Together sets the record straight on rent control's role, and who is actually to blame for the city's unaffordability.
Warren Housing Bill Presents a Clear Choice on CRA
Senator Elizabeth Warren and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency have offered contrasting visions for the future of CRA. How do they differ, and what would the implications for historically disinvested communities be?
Sitting on a Porch Can Be Good for Your Health
To help combat isolation and reweave the connecting fabric that had been lost, a neighborhood arts center launches an initiative that eventually became a movement.
Can Cities Fix Their Polarization Problem? A Review of The Divided...
How different would cities look and how different would people’s lives be if those with the power to set policy and invest resources prioritized the most vulnerable residents and the neighborhoods they live in?
Q: Can Prohibiting Source-of-Income Discrimination Help Voucher Holders?
A: Yes. Currently landlords in most places can discriminate against voucher holders, and many do. For example:An African-American female tester using a voucher was denied...
A Year Later, Can the Grenfell Tower Fire Be a Catalyst...
Glyn Robbins talks about what led him to view U.K. and U.S. housing policy as intertwined, how public protest stifled the Conservative Party’s 2016 Housing Act, and what’s changed in the wake of Grenfell Tower fire.
Housing, Not Warehousing—A Victory 10 Years in the Making
Warehousing is one of real estate’s best-kept secrets, and a crucial piece of how the housing market can keep supply low and demand high. One New York City organization rallied to prove warehousing still posed a problem, and pushed the boundaries of what was politically possible.
A Review of The Fight for Fair Housing
The collection of 17 essays captures and explains the dynamism of the fair housing movement with its remarkable contributors.
The Right to Stay Put
There is much work to be done around housing and equitable development, but the solution is not simply to move people around. A key challenge is creating real choice.
The Warren Housing Bill: Ready to Take On The Affordability Crisis?
Sen. Warren's proposed bill represents the kind of holistic housing strategy we need from the federal government in facilitating affordable housing for all Americans in all cities and towns who have been left out, locked out, or exploited over decades by the national housing market.
NYCHA’s Embrace of RAD Program Brings a Mix of Praise and Worry
Rehabbing this Far Rockaway housing complex is a huge undertaking. NYCHA is betting that the RAD program can make it happen, and it seems to be paying off.
Q: Can Nonprofits Get Out the Vote?
A. Yes! Nonprofits are often uncertain about what they can legally do, but they can get out the vote among their residents, clients, and staff.
Shelter Shorts, The Week in Community Development—Oct. 5
News from—and affecting—the community development world. This week: a new kind of library lending, Amazon's wage raise, life for Philadelphia's poor, bipartisan work on the opioid epidemic, and more.
Signaling A Strong Message of Support For Immigrant Neighbors
In today’s climate, the first and often most important barrier between vulnerable residents and deportation is simply their front door.
Same Challenges, Bigger Numbers: 30 Years of Reporting on The State of the Nation’s...
While each annual State of the Nation’s Housing report has documented housing changes incrementally, looking back 30 years provides a unique frame of reference for just exactly how much worse housing affordability challenges have become.
Can Housers Unite Around the Warren Proposal?
Every once in a while someone says: "What would it look like if we came together and were united on a federal policy for housing?" It seems like the answer to "who would actually do it?" might currently be Senator Elizabeth Warren.
Shelter Shorts, The Week in Community Development—Sept. 28
News from—and affecting—the community development world. This week: custom job searches for veterans, success in the land trust movement, middle neighborhoods, manufactured housing, senior cost burden at all-time high, more.
Shelter Shorts, The Week in Community Development—Sept. 21
News from—and affecting—the community development world.