Jeremy Nowak, a founder of Reinvestment Fund and founding board member of the Opportunity Finance Network (OFN), passed away on July 28. Nowak was, as anyone who knew him would attest, a “character.” He had strong opinions, and was...
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.
The Jobs-Housing Hamster Wheel
A deeper dive into the cause of high housing prices reveals that it is not the price of lumber, bricks, or labor that accounts for high or low housing prices—the controlling factor most often is the price of land.
Regrets of an Accidental Placemaker
Had I unintentionally contributed to the gentrification of my neighborhood and other neighborhoods around Washington, D.C.?
In Baltimore, Johns Hopkins Seeks to Be a Good Neighbor
The current HopkinsLocal effort, a three-year program launched in September 2015, is also clearly a response to the death of Freddie Gray and the events that followed.
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...
Shelterforce asked author and housing worker Glyn Robbins 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.
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.
What Future For America’s Small Cities?
These books not only offer something of a window on what is—or is not—going on in small cities, but useful pointers for practitioners working in the types of cities described.
Shelter Shorts, The Week in Community Development—Aug. 17
HUD's Latest Assault on Fair Housing | Decriminalizing Homelessness | "Buying the Block" | FEMA's Roadblocks In Puerto Rico | Public Transport And Health
Shelter Shorts, The Week in Community Development—Aug. 10
Union Power | A Clinic Moves To Serve Displaced Clients | On The Horizon-Sweeping Change To Financing Industry Regulation
An Old American Struggle, Always New
Color and Character is an introduction to the seminal and unresolved struggle over integration and racial equality in America.
Homeless Vets Given Keys to a New Home and Life
The Gordon H. Mansfield Veterans Community in Agawam, Massachusetts, offers housing for homeless veterans, along with access to various other supportive services.
Housing Advocates—Seize This Moment!
I’ve been working to address housing affordability since the late 1970s. There has never been this much media and public focus on the issue.
Shelter Shorts, The Week in Community Development—Aug. 3
Addressing Hunger on Campus | Redesigning the Homeless Shelter | Holding Landlords Accountable | NYC Says No To Uber & Lyft | Protecting Voucher Holders | More...
Renters Rise Again
Rent regulation is no longer being discussed as a vestigial holdover from a previous age, but actively debated and organized for by renters and activists.
Tenant Power: Organizing for Rent Strikes and Landlord Negotiations
In the face of high rent increases and substandard housing, many tenants are realizing they are not alone in their landlord troubles and are joining together to push for building-level wins, and policy change.
The Dark Side of Single-Family Rental
After the foreclosure crisis, global equity firms snapped up thousands of single-family homes to rent out. This massive shift in the market has not been good for aspiring homeowners, tenants, or neighborhoods.
The Promise and Peril of HUD’s RAD Program
After a public housing property in Hopewell, Virginia, was privatized through the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program, some families were threatened with eviction and...