Peter Dreier

80 Posts

Peter Dreier is professor of politics at Occidental College and has contributed to Shelterforce since the 1970s. He served for many years on the board of the National Housing Institute and was a founder of the Massachusetts Tenants Organization in the 1980s and has worked with housing activist groups since then.
Policy

Stemming the Red Tide

Greedy bankers, brokers, and investors abused their political power and forced millions of Americans to lose their homes. Now what can we do to solve the crisis?

Policy

The Supreme Denial of Integration

Despite the high court’s recent blow to achieving classroom diversity, fair-housing practices can go a long way toward moving the country beyond racism.

Policy

Housing the Working Poor

What big ideas should housing activists put forward to the next president and Congress? Assuming that a Democrat wins the White House and that the Democrats hold onto or even expand their majority in Congress, housing advocates have an opening to promote a progressive agenda. Are we ready?

Uncategorized

The Politics of Poverty

Can John Edwards make fighting poverty a winning platform?

Uncategorized

Jane Jacobs’ Radical Legacy

Sometimes a book can change history. Books often influence ideas, but only rarely do they catalyze activism.

Housing

Frank Wilkinson’s Legacy

His was a life devoted to the preservation of our civil liberties. But it all began with a belief in decent, affordable housing.

Equity

Katrina: A Political Disaster

The handling of Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath underscores the human disaster resulting from the ascendancy of right-wing ideas and corporate domination of the federal government, which extols market forces, individualism and private charity over public responsibility and the common good.

Shelter Shorts

NYC Tenants Don’t Want Tourists

Tenants in New York City are getting fed up as growing numbers of tourists camp out in their buildings. Landlords have taken to evicting tenants from single room occupancy buildings […]

Housing

Reagan’s Legacy: Homelessness in America

While the media looks fondly at President Reagan’s accomplishments two decades ago, they all but ignore the devastating affects his policies left on the poor.

Uncategorized

Enraging the Right

It’s not everyday that a powerful right-wing think tank takes aim at a grassroots organization – after all, there are many groups working in the trenches on behalf of the […]

Uncategorized

Renewing Bonds

President Harry Truman’s pledge to address the postwar housing shortage and the problem of urban slums played a key role in his 1948 presidential victory. During the campaign, Truman declared […]

Uncategorized

Growing Together:

After civil unrest shook the streets of Los Angeles in 1992, local low-income communities of color enjoyed what Andy Warhol once described as fifteen minutes of fame. The temporary spotlight […]