Transportation and Fair Housing Part 1: We Need a Better Measure of Opportunity
Factoring in costs that tend to be lower in urban high-poverty neighborhoods, but not costs that tend to be higher there makes the H+T Index unsuitable as a tool for locating low-income housing.
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,...
Just as I Suspected, Paying Rent Is Racist
Every month millions of Black Americans hand over half of our livelihood to the descendants of those who forcefully brought our ancestors here to work for free. Essentially, America is in the business of charging its captives rent.
The Coronavirus Will Explode Achievement Gaps in Education
The achievement gap between low-income and other children is already equivalent to at least two years of schooling. Might the coronavirus shutdown expand that by another half year?
YIMBY, White Privilege, and the Soul of Our Cities
A common narrative being promoted about why there is a housing crisis ignores history and serves to assuage new residents’ guilty feelings. But we can craft a new narrative together.
Lessons from Post 9/11 America for a Post-COVID Society
A post-COVID society can look different from post 9/11 America if we reject racism, focus on the most vulnerable communities, and balance rapid response with long-term strategies that tackle systemic disparities.
Thrown into the Mix
“Mixed income” is the hot phrase in housing developments and neighborhoods across the country these days.
It is the bedrock of the Hope VI plan...
Are We Diluting the Mission of Community Land Trusts?
CLTs’ dependence on external grant funding to acquire land and maintain their operations make them particularly susceptible to mission drift. Coming in with this knowledge, organizers may still be able to use the tool adequately or opt for other collective land ownership strategy.
Implement A Market-Wide Program for Post-COVID-19 Homeowner Relief—Immediately
We have learned how to successfully provide broad-based mortgage payment relief to millions of American households in need. There’s nothing to stop us this time around from doing it right.
Make Your Streets Livable!
An exciting new resource is available to community developers who want to make the streets in their neighborhoods more inviting to people on foot,...
Criticisms About Community Preference Policies Are Misguided
Community preference policies have been challenged by those inside and outside of government who fail to see or value the anti-displacement benefits of the policy.
Three Lessons Learned from Working in Isolation
A New York-based organizer says although we may be physically divided due to social distancing, we can be emotionally bounded through our common purpose.
To The New First Family: Welcome To My Hometown
What an exciting time to be a D.C. resident.
In this historic and wonderful week, the Obamas are moving not only to a new job...
Anti-Displacement Organizing Should Start Here
Organizing in AAPI communities has challenges, but their location and composition make them key in the fight against gentrification. Here's why.
Banks Can Earn CRA Credit for COVID Response—But Who’s Benefiting?
All banking activities, regardless of whether they benefit middle- and upper-income or low- and moderate-income people and communities, could count in the next round of CRA exams. This would further disadvantage communities that are already disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.
Two Americas On Display: DC & Las Vegas
I was struck by two hugely contrasting stories in Sunday’s Real Estate section of The Washington Post. If you want evidence that John Edwards’s...
Protecting the Community Reinvestment Act Is an Investment in Economic Justice
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation just released a set of proposed rules for the Community Reinvestment Act that threaten the very heart of the law.
Community Organizations Have to Talk About Police Violence Directly
It’s easy to quickly refocus the conversation around police violence on the problems our organizations are already set up to fix—here’s why we shouldn’t.
Some Thoughts On This Martin Luther King Jr. Day
On this Martin Luther King Jr. Day, as one of the lucky ones who actually had the day off to reflect on this great...
Redlining Would Be Relegalized by CRA Reform Proposal
In an attempt to make compliance easier for banks, regulators are proposing to incentivize the very thing the Community Reinvestment Act was written to fight.