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Reported Article

Fannie Mae’s Financing Initiative Encourages Healthier Design, Stronger Resident Services

“I am so excited that Fannie decided to do this … For the first time, there has been recognition by a capital funder that the services that are provided matter.”

Opinion

Living in a Bubble: Development When Community Doesn’t Matter

How suburban luxury high-rises are lowering everyone’s quality of life.

Family skating at Akoma market.
Arts & Culture

‘We-Making’: How Arts and Culture Build Social Cohesion

In Oakland, the Black Cultural Zone ties together art and community ownership to prevent gentrification and heal trauma.

Reported Article

What’s the Best Way to Judge How Well a City’s Housing Policies Improve Health?

CityHealth revamps its housing medal criteria, shifts away from inclusionary zoning to flexible funding and tenant protections. “We realized there is no singular policy intervention that can address the whole of affordable housing.”

Opinion

How Affordable Housers Perpetuate Past Harms, and How They Can Do Better

Some elements of affordable housing—from the development process to the way buildings are managed—are rooted in racist assumptions that dehumanize residents. Here are some simple ways you can be a better housing provider.

Young female volunteer in mask gives an elderly man boxes with food near his house. Quarantined, isolated.
Health

Blame Policies, Not Places, for Poor Health

Shifting blame from people to ZIP codes is not enough to create healthy communities. Here’s how to do better.

Reported Article

Trauma-Informed Practices Help Deliver Better Care to Clients and Staff

Poverty, violence, and racism can fuel toxic stress. It’s critical that organizations respond with trauma-informed care. Here’s how.

Reported Article

Rural Health Professionals Think Outside the Hospital

Could rural hospitals build on existing social services work by investing their assets to advance their communities’ health? Examples from Kansas, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Virginia show some possibilities.

Reported Article

Housing Design That Advances Health

Applying trauma-informed principles, reducing social isolation, and encouraging active living—how housing can be designed to promote good health.

dilapidated home's front entrance
Whatever Happened to ...

The Work Continues: Property Maintenance Lawsuits Move Forward, Foster Care Vouchers Pass, and More

In the third installment of Shelterforce articles of old, we look back at what’s been happening with lawsuits against banks that allegedly failed to maintain properties they own in predominantly Black and Latinx neighborhoods, Medicaid money for housing, community developers elected to office, and vouchers for foster care youth.

Interview

Fixing the Harms of Our Eviction System: An Interview with Emily Benfer

Emily Benfer talks about what needs to change in our housing and eviction systems—not just now, but once the pandemic is past, the connections between health and housing, and how she came to be a go-to voice on the eviction crisis.

Reported Article

Health Care Institutions Invest in Tenant Protections for Community Health

Health care institutions are expanding from funding development to supporting housing justice and tenant rights policy.