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Policy
The rules of the game—and the attitudes of the players—have an enormous effect on community development work at all levels. Here we look at some of the conversations about how to shift that policy for the better.
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How State Coalitions Are Advancing Community Ownership of Housing
In recent years, housing coalitions promoting community land trusts and real estate cooperatives have formed in multiple cities and states—and they are achieving results. Nonetheless, a lot of work is needed to achieve the policy changes these groups desire.
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From PETRA to RAD—The Path to Converting 140,000 Public Housing Units
More than $10 billion in private financing has been invested in public housing thanks to the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program. But housing advocates say it comes at a cost, and there still isn’t enough oversight of the program.
The Dark Side of Community Preference Policies
Community preference policies give existing residents first dibs on subsidized housing built in their neighborhoods. But what happens when these policies are applied to communities that are exclusive, well-off, and majority white?
HUD Has Money for Tenant Organizing. Why Isn’t the Agency Spending It?
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development can provide $10 million to tenant organizers each year, but the funding has largely gone unspent since the early 2000s. Will that change with a new administration and newly approved HUD secretary?
Now and Then: Rent Control, Rental Assistance, and Universal Vouchers
In the second installment of updates to Shelterforce articles of old, we check in on how well some of the recommendations, predictions, and worries about rent control, rental assistance, and universal vouchers have aged.
Fair Housing and Zoning: Toward a New Boston?
How Boston became the first city to add fair housing to its zoning regulations.
Did America Vote to Tackle Race and Health Inequities?
The ushering in of a new administration is a good time to reflect on some key 2020 ballot measures that have either advanced or hurt racial and health equity.
HUD Won’t Help With Back Rent Until Eviction Moratoriums Are Gone
Housing groups across the country are hoping HUD under the Biden administration will allow the use of Emergency Services Grants to prevent evictions.
Moving from the Inequitable Housing System We Have to the Housing System We Need
Three big, but basic, things that we could do right now to get us much closer to equity in housing.
Say It Ain’t So, Joe: Biden’s Ill-Advised Plan to Eliminate Exclusionary Zoning
A counterintuitive argument contends that from a housing justice perspective, the Biden administration’s attack on exclusionary zoning is imprudent.
In Unprecedented Times, Nothing Less Than Universal Rent Relief Will Do
If we stick with yesterday’s policy and programs in an unprecedented year of crisis, we will leave an unconscionable number of people, families, and communities behind.
How Democrats Can Fix the Affordable Housing Crisis
With Democrats taking back the Senate, can the Biden administration go beyond immediate-term rent relief to win more ambitious housing solutions?
Housing Policy Needs Abolition Too
Abolition—as a mode of mobilization and social change directed at the criminal legal system and elsewhere—remains widely misunderstood.