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Communities
Here you’ll find articles on some of the broader forces that affect the physical communities we live in, questions about what makes a community and who gets to live there, and explorations of the ways people try to shape and reclaim control over their communities.
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A (Much) Older Example of Social Housing Than Vienna
History often feels like a depressing account of the worst things people can do to each other. But a recent book contains reminders that nothing is inevitable, and sometimes people have done better than we’re doing now—even in terms of housing and social equity.
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Let’s Harness the Growth of the Shared-Equity Field
Between 2011 and 2022, the number of nonprofits with shared-equity programs and CLTs increased by 30 percent. Here’s a look at the diversity of their programs and portfolios, and who’s benefiting from their rise.
Legitimate Debate or Short-Sighted Complaints? 5 Reasons Affordable Housing Is Expensive to Build
There’s no denying that affordable housing can be expensive to build. But we need to look at the long-term benefits of those investments to see the bigger picture.
How ‘Tenant Stewards’ Are Using TOPA to Form a Co-op
Organized by a pandemic-era mutual aid group, this housing cooperative is taking advantage of D.C.’s pioneering Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act. But the pressure of paying back a loan with mounting interest could stymie the group’s plans to provide affordable housing.
Q: What Are the Three Major Types of Community- or Resident-Controlled Housing and How Do They Work?
There’s a lot of momentum toward resident-controlled housing. Do you know the three major forms it takes?
Shelterforce’s Top 10 Stories of 2023
What were the biggest Shelterforce stories of the year? We count down the top 10 of 2023.
The Unfulfilled Potential of D.C.’s TOPA Law
Tenant Opportunity to Purchase laws empower renters to get control when their buildings go up for sale. But in D.C., the hurdles to becoming owners are many, and often insurmountable.
Can Residents Get More Out of Tax Credit Housing?
Arrangements in which LIHTC tenants share in the development’s financial benefits, or become partial or full owners, are rare—but some properties have pulled them off. This scan of several examples shows the possibilities—and the conditions needed for them to succeed.
Western States Look to These Lands for New Affordable Housing
In several western states, state-owned trust lands were created to support schools and other community benefits.
Rebuilding After Trauma: Public Spaces in Cleveland
Traumatic events, and the ongoing traumas of vacancy and disinvestment, can be strongly associated with the places where they occurred. In Cleveland, several organizations are bringing new function and meaning to traumatized spaces.
How It’s Working: Laws That Help Tenants and Nonprofits Buy Buildings
Shelterforce checks in on three communities that have passed policies giving tenants and nonprofits first dibs on purchasing property. Are these policies keeping residents in their homes?
Will ‘Critical Race Theory’ Attacks Undermine Urban Planning Education?
Laws meant to restrict professors from discussing how race has shaped public policy could target the factual discussion of housing policy and its history—but professors say they don’t intend to go along.
Tenant Organizing in Unexpected Places, a Webinar
Tenants aren’t just organizing in places like California and New York—hear about tenant organizing in small and mid-sized cities from Maine, Maryland, Texas and Kentucky.