Policy

The Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule was intended to force communities to take action to address housing segregation and discrimination. How has the rule evolved throughout the years, and will a proposed new rule finally put some teeth into the legal concept?

What’s the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing provision? How has it been enforced in the past? And what do fair housing advocates think of the proposed changes? Shelterforce’s new Under the Lens series—New AFFH Rules: What You Need to Know—explores that and more.

Kea Mathis organizes alongside tenants—mostly Black, women-led households—to create and support affordable, quality housing. “It is very hard . . . as a Black woman here, to be the one to try to ask the question first or stand up first,” says Mathis.

In a racist society, markets cause racist housing outcomes, but nonetheless the influence of land use regulation shouldn’t be ignored.

Louisiana sued thousands of homeowners for not following the rules in how they spent recovery grants. After a joint news investigation, the governor announced that the state won’t try to collect the money.

Climate change is an especially large threat to low-income residents. The Inflation Reduction Act offers a chance to act.

What should we make of the administration’s tenants rights announcement?

Local governments often come to different conclusions about how to address homelessness within their respective city borders. Varying approaches only exacerbate the problem.

Requirements to be certified as a community development financial institution (CDFI) will soon change—and some lenders that qualified before might no longer.

Tenants got to talk directly to the Biden administration about the need to rein in soaring rents. Will action follow?

Policymakers and building designers have gone from pushing for energy efficiency to focusing on reducing carbon emissions by using more electrical-based systems. What are some of the benefits and challenges of going all-electric, and how can affordable housers move forward?

City Life/Vida Urbana is known for successful tenant union organizing and anti-eviction actions, but every individual action springs from a larger vision of system and policy change.