Canada Is Looking Better and Better (The Regent Park Story)
High-density public housing may seem like an idea whose time has come and gone, buried along with the ruins of notorious projects like St....
Integrating Whitman
A long-forgotten battle over a set of row houses in South Philadelphia makes current day NIMBYism look tame. What can housing advocates learn from how they finally got built anyway?
“Inclusive Communities” Are Inadequate for the World’s Housing Crises
Housing problems are growing and are likely to worsen with pervasive income inequality and a U.S. population projected to grow by 80 million people by 2050. Yet, the solutions do not match the demand.
Bigger Forces at Play
If social inclusion and the creation of mixed-income neighborhoods is embraced by so many, why does it seem to be so difficult to materialize this vision for the city? Let's look at some examples.
Why We Must Build
We can’t build our way out of the housing crisis . . . but we won’t get out without building.
Q: Do inclusionary housing requirements make housing prices go up for everyone else?
A: No, they do not. Market-rate developers are business people. They charge as much as the market will bear. When housing prices go up . . .
Q: Isn’t the foreclosure crisis over?
A: Not for everyone. Even after significant recovery, most of the country still has record high levels of . . .
Making Mixed-Income Developments Work
A single development with an intentional income mix involves very specific challenges—both in its design and its management.
Using the Wrong Tools to Build Affordable Housing
Along with most Rooflines readers, I believe that having some portion of a community’s housing as long term or permanently affordable is a desirable...
Build Mixed-Income Housing–But Not in Isolation
A focus on housing connected to education and wellness will be needed to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty.
Can San Francisco Get Mixed-Income Public Housing Redevelopment Right?
The HOPE SF program is aiming to explicitly avoid many of the problems mixed-income public housing redevelopments have faced, to create a truly inclusive process.
Don’t Build Mixed-Income Communities, Buy Them
Building when you could buy is inefficient—and contributes to economic segregation.
A Tale of Two Markets: Affordability and the State of the Nation’s Housing in...
For first-time homebuyers with good credit, stable employment, and savings for a down payment, buying a home is more affordable than it has been in decades. For everyone else, however, lower home prices have been a disaster.
It’s All About Choice
Rather than just developing homes for sale, City of Lakes CLT lets buyers pick houses to bring into the land trust.
Memphis’s Unwelcome News
Hanna Rosin has caused quite a stir with her dramatically titled Atlantic Monthly article American Murder Mystery. (For the record, we writers rarely get...
PETRA Perspectives: National People’s Action—Housing Justice Campaign
The history of well-intentioned housing plans from HUD and Congress has public housing residents across the country scared to death that they could lose their homes through PETRA.
Who Owns Our Neighborhoods?
Outside investors are buying up foreclosed properties in Oakland, California, at a rate that not only has Oakland residents uneasy, but has also raised...
PETRA Perspectives: PolicyLink
As the merits and flaws of PETRA are being debated, PolicyLink offers its list of desired outcomes for poor people and economically distressed communities.
Are the Kids All Right? Austin Is Asking
Recently here on Rooflines, Tiffany Eng wrote about Oakland’s challenges in “family friendly” planning. Here in Austin, we're facing...
PETRA Perspectives: Congresswoman Maxine Waters
While PETRA is flawed, it is also the only serious attempt any administration has made to preserve public housing in quite some time.