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Miriam Axel-Lute

503 Posts

Miriam Axel-Lute is CEO/editor-in-chief of Shelterforce. She lives in Albany, New York, and is a proud small-city aficionado.
Construction

3D-Printed Houses: New Trend or Lasting Solution?

Habitat for Humanity sponsored a virtual panel discussion on 3D-printed homes, moderated by Shelterforce’s editor in chief, Miriam Axel-Lute.

Reported Article

Making Homeownership Work Better

Programs that help households of color buy homes haven’t made much of a dent in the racial wealth gap. But some strategies could generate better outcomes for buyers.

aerial view of suburban development
Reported Article

Increased Homeownership Won’t Close the Racial Wealth Gap

Despite the hopes pinned on it, homeownership is currently too affected by racism at every turn to be an equalizer.

Equity

Rethinking the Racial Wealth Gap With Anne Price

A lot of conversations about the racial wealth gap focuses too much on homeownership as the only solution. It’s much more complex. Shelterforce’s Miriam Axel-Lute talks with Anne Price, president of the Insight Center for Community Economic Development.

Editor’s Note

Moving Beyond the Holy Trinity of Racial Wealth Gap Answers

We’ve been carrying out asset-building strategies for decades now, but the wealth gap has not shrunk. What needs to be done about it?

Explainers

What Is NIMBYism and How Do Affordable Housing Developers Respond to It?

NIMBYism is often expressed as concerns about crime, congestion, schools, property values, and “quality of life.” But when developments are built these fears rarely come to pass.

Editor’s Note

Building Differently: Can It Reduce Construction Costs?

Experiments to lower construction costs, from reusing shipping containers to 3D printing walls, have been happening for years. But are any of these approaches able to provide meaningful savings at scale?

A National Guardsmen rescues three people on a boat in LaPlace, Louisiana,after Hurricane Ida brought flooding to the area.
Interview

The Harbinger of the Modern Disaster Era: An Interview with Andreanecia Morris

From Katrina to COVID to Ida, the director of Housing NOLA talks about FEMA, communications systems, racism, and resiliency.

An image with the word gentrification over and over again in different fonts and colors.
Neighborhood Change

What Does ‘Gentrification’ Really Mean?

The word “gentrification” has become a widespread and highly debated term. We’ve found that there are (at least) four broad kinds of things that people mean when they say they are concerned about “gentrification.”

Reported Article

Keeping Community Control as Community Land Trusts Grow

When a CLT grows, the “community” it represents can sometimes be more difficult to define. But to some extent it always was.

Reported Article

Champlain Housing Trust: Breadth and Depth

Over 2,400 rental apartments, 600 shared-equity homes, cooperatives, and a couple of hotels for the unhoused—How the largest community land trust in the U.S. scaled up.

Reported Article

Scaling Up: How Some Community Land Trusts Are Getting Bigger

The community land trust model is in a time of dramatic growth and creativity. Some CLTs are aiming for larger scale than has been typical. How are they doing it?