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A poster: Q: What Does "Community Benefit" Mean? A: This term means different things to people in the health sector and the community development or organizing sectors, which can get confusing. Two sections of text titled "Hospital Community Benefit Requirement" and "Community Benefits Agreements," with clip art to illustrate. Image links to PDF version

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Close view of part of a closed door, showing a mail slot above two small signs, and below them, a buzzer. One sign is the universal icon for accessibility: a wheelchair. The other says, "Please ring bell for attention."
Disability

Why Aren’t Homeless Shelters Accommodating People Who Have Disabilities?

With homelessness on the rise, the U.S. shelter system is ill-equipped to accommodate disabled occupants.

A roadway in Missoula, Montana. There are some buildings to the right, and mountains in the back.
Health

Where Missoula Built Sidewalks, A Health Equity Focus Followed

The Missoula City-County Health Department is working to expand health equity through a full-time government position, five years after a health initiative brought new sidewalks to low-income neighborhoods.

A woman in a motorized wheelchair travels along a rural road with no sidewalks, as a bus approaches close to her from the opposite direction. Standing on the coarse gravel shoulder of the road is a man with a dog.
Disability

The Road to Transportation Equity: Listening to Non-Drivers

Laying the groundwork for transportation equity can start with listening to disabled people’s experiences of infrastructure for non-drivers.

Health

Why an Eldercare Facility Turned to Employer-Provided Housing

Providing temporary housing in tiny homes has helped a long-term care facility keep its doors open in the face of a growing housing crisis. 

Disability

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.

Construction

Making Housing More Accessible for People With Multiple Chemical Sensitivities

Accessibility for this challenging disability can look different from other measures—but addressing it could help improve everyone’s health. 

Close-up of the word NO stencil-painted on blacktop
Disability

Accessible Housing Is Not Just About How Buildings Are Built

The ways in which buildings are managed after they are built also affects how accessible and inclusive they are.

A large open space with a staircase that has multicolored balusters. At left is a large mural of people with different skin tones and in front of it is a person holding a small child. Dual handrails on staircase ensure adult and child can safely use stairs by holding height appropriate handrails. There’s another small child, this one on crutches, and a woman in white is crouching beside him. There’s a man on the landing of the staircase and a small girl climbing the steps. Behind her is a woman carrying a bag or briefcase and drinking from a cup.
Disability

Cross-Disability Design Makes Housing Better for Everyone

Affordable housing projects should incorporate a range of accessibility features, going above and beyond code requirements.

Six disabled people of color smile and pose in front of a concrete wall. Five people stand in the back, with the Black woman in the center holding up a chalkboard sign reading "disabled and here." A South Asian person in a wheelchair sits in front.
Disability

Which U.S. Laws Require Accessibility in Housing—And How Well Do They Do?

Activists have been fighting for decades to expand accessible housing for disabled residents. They’ve made progress, but say that current regulations and enforcement don’t go far enough.

A composite picture that includes blueprint-style drawings on blue, a row of apartments in pink and a tall tower in blue. Large figures are a smiling young woman with long black hair and a smiling young man in a wheelchair. Smaller images include people with canes and in wheelchairs, and two men seated on a bench at a bus stop, the older one wearing dark glasses and holding a cane.
Disability

Disability Justice and Equity in Housing

Welcome to Shelterforce’s newest Under the Lens series, Not Just Ramps—Disability and Housing Justice. This introductory article lays out why the connection between disability and affordable housing is so strong, and why it’s so important for housers to understand.

A senior Black woman wearing top and pants in shades of pink with a dark gray sweater, and wearing a surgical mask, sits in an armchair facing a home healthcare nurse. She is Black, with very short hair and wearing black-rimmed glasses, blue scrub top; also wearing a surgical mask and stethoscope, and carrying a clipboard or tablet. On the wall behind the seated woman is a bright blue artwork.
Housing

How States Can Use Medicaid to Address Housing Costs

New federal guidance enables states to use Medicaid dollars to support housing needs.

An early 1900s three- or four-story hotel on a street corner, seen from street level against a bright blue cloudless sky. Built of pink sandstone with light green trim. The ground floor has businesses; the sidewalk is crowded with parked scooters and a red cafe umbrella.
COVID

What LA’s New Shelter Program Can Learn from Statewide Efforts

As LA’s Inside Safe program works to transition unhoused Angelenos from hotels into permanent housing, its leaders should look to California’s Project Roomkey for lessons.