Maurice Jones on Job Creation, Community Development, and Wealth Building
Seventy-one percent of jobs that pay $40,000 and above require a four-year degree, says Maurice Jones. That requirement is "having a huge, huge adverse impact on Black talent earning their way into the middle class."
Could France’s Approach to Combating NIMBYism Work in the United States?
Twenty years ago France passed a law that required cities to have a certain percentage of social housing or face penalties for failing to comply. Since then the country’s most exclusionary cities and suburbs have seen a fivefold increase in the availability of social housing, according to a new study.
Making Inclusionary Housing Programs a Force for Racial Equity
Three city administrators go beyond the press releases to talk about what it really takes to make an inclusionary housing requirement serve households of color.
The Harbinger of the Modern Disaster Era: An Interview with Andreanecia Morris
From Katrina to COVID to Ida, the director of Housing NOLA talks about FEMA, communications systems, racism, and resiliency.
Landlords Don’t Have to Control Security Deposits
The UK saw a dramatic change in landlord behavior once security deposits were put into the hands of a third party.
Gentrification: Is Pop Culture Getting It Right?
Gentefied. In the Heights. Vida. How do storylines and portrayals of gentrification in cinema stack up to how it plays out in real life?
Housing Solutions—Centering Community in Ownership, Control, and Long-Term Affordability
How is community control of housing realized? We explore different community ownership structures, how tenants form a cooperative, and how larger housing nonprofits can incorporate residents into decision-making.
Chicago Changes How It Allocates Tax Credits to Improve Racial Equity
How did the Windy City expand the idea of advancing racial equity through low-income housing tax credits beyond where affordable housing is built?
Community-Police Partnerships After George Floyd
An interview with Mona Mangat, vice president of safety and justice initiatives at LISC. We talked with Mona Mangat, vice president of safety and justice initiatives at LISC,
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.
“Why Would a Hospital Do This?” Shifting Institutional Culture for Health Equity
Hanaa Hamdi is the director of health impact investment strategies and partnerships at New Jersey Community Capital, the state’s largest CDFI. Michellene Davis is...
Duluth Indigenous Groups Reframe Climate Work in Cultural Context
While many conversations about climate resiliency are well-intentioned, they often lack a perspective grounded in community control and cultural context. In this interview, Ivy Vainio and LeAnn Littlewolf from the American Indian Community Housing Organization explore how gardens, worm bins, and solar panels help reclaim agency for Duluth's Indigenous communities.
Racial Equity, Housing, and COVID: A Roundtable
Six regional and state housing advocates discuss the connections between uprisings over racial injustice, the pandemic, and the need for housing security.
The Case for Letting Developers Pay Not Build
The question of integrating affordable housing units required by inclusionary zoning on-site versus allowing developers to pay a fee to locate them off-site has long been a contentious one.
Harm Reduction Policing?
Shelterforce spoke with 2019 MacArthur fellow Lisa Daugaard about how her work in homelessness set her on her path, and how diversion programs can build political will to increase support for affordable housing and public health.
Youth Soccer on Transit Land
For the last 30 years, Atlanta nonprofit Soccer in the Streets has been removing the cost barrier to soccer by offering free programs and uniforms. Two years ago, it increased access to the sport by constructing soccer fields on unused land owned by the city’s transit authority.
Celebrating a Different Definition of “Safety”
Night Out for Safety and Liberation provides an alternative to annual police-sponsored community events, and is growing in popularity around the nation.
Is Success Making CDFIs Too Risk-Averse?
Shelterforce's Miriam Axel-Lute in conversation with Ed Gorman of NCRC on whether community development financial institutions (CDFIs) are taking enough risk, and therefore, falling short of their mission.
A Health Insurer and a CDC Collaborate to Move the Needle on Housing and...
David Adame of Chicanos Por La Causa, and Joe Guadio of UnitedHealthcare talk about the value of addressing social determinants and lessons they’ve learned.
Changing the Way We Think About Poor Rural Communities
Rural communities are very different places—separated by climate, geography, and often race. But in many other ways, these communities are far more similar than different.