A Transformative Experiment in Alaska
What do mimes, micro-units, and honoring Alaskan Natives have in common? Artists. The Cook Inlet Housing Authority's work with artists helped the organization realize new markers of success and furthered its housing goals.
Response to Pandemic Shows What’s Possible in Housing
We’re seeing bold actions from states across the U.S.—from strong eviction moratoriums in Massachusetts to a major homeless initiative in California. What if these new housing measures were designed to last beyond the coronavirus crisis?
Relief from the Rent
Rental assistance has been included in the House Democrats’ financial package. It would be none too soon for the people left out of overwhelmed state and local efforts.
Pandemic Leads to Early Prisoner Release, But Finding Housing for Them Remains Difficult
As the infection rate at jails in places like New York began to climb, officials started looking for criteria to use in determining which inmates could be released. Then they ran into a familiar but now heightened dilemma.
What Would It Mean to Cancel Rent?
The growing organizing demand raises a host of questions for the affordable housing movement.
Rent Strikes Launching Around the World May 1
Organizers calling for the cancellation of rent are taking to digital platforms to get the word out about the action, where tenants will withhold some or all of their rent until their conditions are met.
Nonprofit Housing Providers Face Down COVID-19
As organizers struggle to get strong eviction moratoriums passed and enforced around the country, there’s one sector where evictions during the pandemic were not...
Ilhan Omar Proposes Bill to Cancel Rent, Mortgage Payments During Pandemic
A bill announced today by Rep. Ilhan Omar would release tenants and homeowners from housing payments until the national emergency is lifted, and would make up the losses to landlords and lenders through a federal fund.
What Could a Joe Biden Presidency Accomplish on Affordable Housing?
Democratic presidential candidates made the housing crisis part of their platforms. What might a President Biden do to ease the shortage?
A Fair Chance at Housing For Those With Records
If you have an arrest or conviction record, you’ll most likely have a difficult time finding a place to rent. A new law in Cook County aims to protect potential tenants from housing discrimination.
High-Risk, Essential, and Illegally Evicted
Eviction moratoriums are only as good as their enforcement, as one man’s harrowing story in New Orleans shows.
Expanding Housing Choice Vouchers Would Strengthen the Safety Net
It’s time to mend the housing safety net. The COVID-19 crisis has thrown light on the fragility of millions of American families for whom...
Housers: Now Is the Time to Buy Land
The coronavirus did not end the urban affordability crisis. To the contrary, it is only a matter of time before urban America’s restaurants, bars,...
Using Inmate Labor to Build Affordable Housing
How do we balance the need to provide job training to those incarcerated with the need to ensure that prisoners are not exploited for their work?
HUD Urged to Make Tenant Income Adjustments Automatic by April 1
Preventing catastrophe when eviction moratoriums lift requires reducing tenants' rent quickly—which advocates say is fully within HUD's power.
Deciding Not to Rebuild After Climate-Related Disasters
Officials in large and small cities along the East Coast are realizing that maybe they shouldn’t rebuild on land that repeatedly floods. Instead they’re focusing on buyouts, building affordable housing on higher ground, and other mitigation efforts.
What an Effective Eviction Moratorium Must Include
An eviction moratorium must hit all five phases of eviction to protect public health. Here's what's needed for an eviction halt policy to do its job.
Housing Policy Must Change in Wake of COVID-19
COVID-19 will hurt the low-income and housing insecure the most. We must act now to protect them—and ensure safe housing for all going forward. Here's how.
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.
An Eviction Moratorium Is Not Enough—Suspend Rent
What will people do when they’re expected to pay back rent after the crisis is over? Eviction moratoriums are not enough to prevent a homelessness crisis.