Forming Partnerships With Public Health Departments, Part 1: Why It’s a Good Idea
What public health practitioners do and why community partners are essential to their goal of health equity.
The Journey Into Supportive Housing
Venturing into supportive housing can be a daunting task for housing providers. The Vancouver Housing Authority shares the insight they’ve gained over the years through doubling their supportive housing units.
Eliminate the Poverty Trap of Means-Adjusting
Want to do something radical and transformative for affordable and public housing? Eliminate means-adjusted rents in family properties.
Not means-testing, the entry review that assures incoming households meet the program’s eligibility criteria. Means-adjusting: the post-occupancy...
What Mumbai’s Slums Do Right, And Why We Should Emulate Them
Sometimes to understand our own cities and community development practices it is helpful to understand a radically different setting. In the slums of Mumbai one thing is immediately evident: the Indian understanding of “slum”...
Invest In Your Values
In a panel discussion at the National Community Reinvestment Coalition’s 2010 National Convention assessing the administration’s mortgage modification initiatives, Gordon Whitman, director of public policy and communications for PICO National Network pointed to as-yet-hesitance...
What Are the Goals of Community Planning?
What are our priorities when it comes to neighborhood planning? According to the results of a public opinion poll conducted by the American Planning Association, “Americans want planners to...
5 (More) Things Dividing the Government and CDCs
I was recently in a room with representatives from government, banks, private developers, and CDCs for a conversation about community development needs.Those in the room expressed frustration with government...
What If Community Developers Held a Congress and Everyone Showed Up?
The question we pose captures some of the feeling emanating from the People & Places conference, which took place in Washington, D.C. earlier this month. Of course, Local Initiatives Support Communities (LISC), NeighborWorks, and...
Going the Other Way: Adding Organizing to Development
Some groups move in the opposite direction from Nobel Neighbors, starting out with a development focus and adding in organizing for the same reasons Nobel is adding development – visibility, empowerment, credibility. The Little...
The Early Years
It was during 1973 that I first began thinking about a national publication for the housing movement. I was a legal services lawyer helping to build the New Jersey Tenant Organization (NJTO).
It was a...
On Optimism and Space: The Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference
Before 2016’s first presidential debate plunged into birtherism and beauty pageants and Donald Trump ran into a wall of his own making, the Republican nominee produced a few exclamatory...
10 Ways to Talk About Inclusionary Housing, Differently
We need to talk about inclusionary housing in a different way that circumvents common misperceptions and creates a new narrative for policymakers in moderate markets and more conservative political climates. Here are 10 messages to help frame your conversations.
Financial Metrics Won’t Tell the Full Picture
Cost savings alone do not measure the full value of the collaboration between the health care and housing sectors.
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
Reawakening “Courageous Philanthropy”
A review of Courageous Philanthropy: Going Public in a Closely Held World, by Jennifer Vanica.
Massachusetts Affordable Housing Providers Lead With Voluntary Eviction Moratorium—But There’s More to Do
Boston didn't have the power to suspend evictions itself, so while advocates pushed the courts and the state legislature, affordable housing providers agreed to a voluntary eviction moratorium and the city encouraged other landlords to join.
Let’s Re-Place the Health Opportunity Maps
The way we map health opportunity has serious flaws. How can we make those maps more reflective of communities' lived experiences?
Dear CDFI Colleagues: It’s Time to be Transparent About Salaries in Job Postings
Companies that value meritocracy perform worse with pay equity when their internal policies do not align with their public-facing statements regarding pay.
Coming Together
The nonprofit housing development field has myriad intermediaries and support organizations, but no one unified voice. Should it have one?
Two Structured Community Development Funds: A Peek at How They Work
The details, lessons, and impact of two innovative community development funds created by Enterprise Community Partners.