Public Housing

In São Paulo, vacant housing units outnumber the unhoused, 12 times over. Across the city, residents have responded by seizing abandoned buildings to turn them into affordable housing. Will the government step up to convert these buildings into public housing?

Sandra Hudson has worked for 30 years to improve the lives of residents as the executive director of a housing authority in Northwest Georgia. Her accomplishments range from improved building materials to more equitable RAD agreements—and plenty in between.

The decision to demolish Wellston’s public housing had already been made when residents and the mayor decided to fight for it, but persistence, luck, and a financing structure with some unusual twists brought them back from the brink.

In 2018, the Family Self-Sufficiency Program was expanded to privately owned properties receiving project-based rental assistance. Here’s a look at how early adopters have used the program to support residents, and the lessons they learned along the way.

Officials in Chicago are struggling to address the city’s homelessness and housing crises. So why does the Chicago Public Housing Authority have one of the highest rates of vacancy in the country?

Amid widespread rent increases, directing public land to affordable housing could allow people to stay in their communities, as well as reduce commutes and employee turnover.

Policy changes by local public housing authorities can be transformative for Americans with convictions, and for their families.

Because their programs provide the most deeply affordable housing in the country, public housing authorities should be both supported in improving fair housing outcomes and held to account when they fall short.

When a St. Louis-based group convened public housing residents to talk about infant mortality, they discovered a serious housing issue that affected tenants’ health. To the organization’s credit, they didn’t turn away from the problem.

Over generations, residents of the Cooper Park Houses in Brooklyn have created a blueprint for successful housing organizing.

“Fair market rents” are set by HUD and used to determine how much federal assistance programs will pay toward rent. But with rental costs rising so rapidly, they aren’t keeping up.

Cities, court systems, citizen groups, and affordable housing operators are crafting ways of responding to emergencies that reduce the risk of negative police interactions.