Shelby R. King
Shelby R. King is Shelterforce's investigative reporter. She began her reporting career in 2010 covering cops/public safety and has been writing about housing and community development since 2014.
How the Housing Shortage Is Forcing People With Disabilities Into Institutions
People with disabilities have the constitutional right to choose community-based care rather than institutionalization, but without enough accessible, affordable units, some are still being forced to live in nursing homes.
FHA Changes Could Make ADU Construction More Affordable
The Federal Housing Administration may soon allow homeowners to count projected rent toward their qualifying income to build an accessory dwelling unit. While ADU advocates call the change “monumental,” the proposed policy isn’t perfect.
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?
Colorado Passed a Historic Affordable Housing Measure. Is It Enough?
The state underfunded affordable housing for decades, but voters recently approved $300 million in new annual spending—and more could be coming.
How to Build a YIMBY/Tenant Activist Bridge, a Shelterforce Webinar
Shelterforce’s investigative reporter Shelby R. King wrote two pieces about YIMBY (Yes in My Back Yard) groups in 2022, including one that focused on...
Is a YIMBY/Tenant Activist Bridge Possible?
A culture war between housing justice advocates and YIMBYs began in 2014. While the groups have different priorities, they do have shared interests. Can they be allies or will the habitual quarreling keep them at odds?
Organized Tenants Are Baaaaack
After a lull in the 1990s, the tenants rights movement reemerged and has only gained strength. What caused the resurgence and what do tenants’ prospects look like?
Tenant Protections 101
Tenant advocates have long been pushing for a “tenants bill of rights” to codify rules that protect renters from landlords. Here’s a rundown of the top protections housing justice activists say need to be included.
Have the YIMBYs Evolved?
Yes in My Back Yard activists started with a simple—and some would say simplistic—argument: to solve the nation’s housing crisis we just need to build more housing, of any type and in as many places as possible. But as the movement nears a decade of existence, some of its members argue that their message has become more nuanced.
CDCs Are Having a Moment. Can the Momentum Last?
Over the past couple of years, community development corporations have been popping up in sometimes-unexpected places across the country. Will this increased interest in CDCs last, or is it a trend that will end when the money runs out?
ESG … and T? Tenant Protections Fly Under the Impact Investing Radar
To meaningfully evaluate real estate-related companies, organizations that evaluate impact investment standards must address tenant experiences.
Why ADUs Can’t Solve the Nation’s Housing Crisis
While accessory dwelling units are a valuable tool to add more rental housing, they also come with limitations.
Going Statewide to Boost ADU Development
ADUs are typically regulated at the local level, but advocates argue statewide legislation is what’s actually needed to get to scale. California has been aggressively leading the way.
Affordable ADUs: How It’s Being Done
In the face of limited financing options, local governments, nonprofits, and social enterprises are experimenting with ways to make affordable ADUs a reality.
How Financing Barriers Keep ADUs Expensive
Most homeowners have neither the capital nor the credit to self-finance an ADU or get a loan to build one. If financing doesn’t change, ADUs will stay niche and expensive.
ADUs: Laws and Uses, Do’s and Don’ts
As ADUs gain national attention, cities are searching for the best ways to legalize their development and encourage construction.
ADUs: Defined, Disambiguated, and Debated
Accessory dwelling units are being touted as a way to provide more affordable rental units for tenants, and additional monthly income for homeowners. But some cities allow them, others don’t. So what are ADUs exactly?
The Post-Protest Pledges: Banks’ Racial Equity Initiatives
It’s been almost two years since the racial justice reckoning galvanized big banks to promise billions of dollars to increase racial equity and close the wealth gap. What are those dollars going toward, and how big a change do they represent?
What if Vouchers Aren’t the (Only) Answer?
Rather than continue to find ways to make Section 8 work better, some affordable housing and tenant advocates argue the federal government should instead invest heavily in addressing the affordable housing shortage at its root.
How One of Boston’s Top Evictors Changed Its Ways
After learning it was one of the city’s most prolific evictors, a for-profit affordable housing provider created a tenant retention program that’s being touted as a model for other developers.