Housing

When a new owner imposed sharp rent hikes in 2018, tenants organized and fought back. Now, more than 300 housing units will be affordable for the foreseeable future. Here’s how the tenants made it happen.

The mayoral candidate made a rent freeze central to his campaign. Here’s how his supporters used in-person campaigning to clinch a victory, and what’s ahead.

The analysis shows that these laws, including bans on sleeping outside, don’t reduce homelessness. Why are they on the rise?

Analysts are using artificial intelligence to supercharge their research by allowing them to comb through data faster. Though these AI tools can be error prone, they save time and housing researchers are optimistic about the future.

The Trump administration wants to nearly halve funding for federal rental assistance and make the states figure out how to distribute what’s left. Tenants, landlords, and housing providers say the fallout would be catastrophic, spiking homelessness and destabilizing communities.

Experts say the change to the HUD budget would make it more difficult to identify people who are homeless and connect them with services, and to prevent homelessness.

New software and web-based applications help speed up the recertification process for voucher holders, give tenants an easier way to request repairs and communicate with staff, and help disabled residents live more independent lives.

As the mortgage industry becomes further automated, can artificial intelligence be trained to avoid replicating historic bias and expand access to loans for excluded borrowers? Some housing advocates are cautiously optimistic.

We’ve found more than a dozen examples of tenant-serving technology that help renters identify landlords, respond to eviction, fight back against housing discrimination, and more.

With higher-valued properties under assessed and lower-valued properties over assessed, advocates say there’s still a problem with Detroit’s property tax system.

Thousands of companies offer tenant screening tools that promise to make life easier for landlords and property managers. But reports show that the data these companies use is often riddled with errors and relies on information that has no bearing on whether someone will be a good tenant.

Shelterforce’s Lillian Ortiz explains what you can expect in our new Under the Lens series—How Tech Is Changing Housing.