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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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Advocates Say Money Motivates Think Tank’s Push to Criminalize Homelessness
A new report questions a billionaire-founded think tank's ties to law enforcement and surveillance—and its connections to the Trump administration.
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Lion of the Senate
We mourn the passing of Sen. Edward Kennedy today not only for his definitive role in a significant slice of Americana, but also for his role a true progressive leader. […]
California Off a Cliff
Hey everybody, have you heard? The California legislature finally passed a budget plan on July 21 (the constitutional deadline is June 15). The state famously began paying bills with IOUs […]
White House Hosting ARRA Web Forums
The White House Office of Management and Budget has announced a series of forums geared to help recipients of funding appropriated through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to “better […]
Urban Policy: Just Getting Started
Xavier de Souza Briggs, the Associate Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, and the subject of an upcoming Shelterforce interview, wrote in Shelterforce last fall that […]
Kelo v. Sotomayor
Kelo v. New London remains a sticky subject. (Ongoing debate in Shelterforce and Rooflines is proof of that.) The 2005 Supreme Court case that upheld a municipality’s ability to take […]
The Continued Importance of Fair Lending in the Age of Obama
Housing discrimination continues to plague the market, as does the myth that the housing crisis resulted from extending homeownership and home mortgage credit to historically underserved groups: minority families. Even with the Obama administration’s Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan and, within that, the Making Home Affordable program, minority groups continue to suffer ongoing discrimination and fair housing violations.
Crossing Silos: HUD, DOT, and Sustainable Communities
The Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Transportation have unveiled a new partnership to help families gain better access to affordable housing, more transportation options, and […]
TARP At Six Months: Report Delivers “Mixed” Emotions
Six months after Congress passed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, allowing for the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) allocation, a report issued by the Congressional Oversight […]
Equity 2.0: The Missing Pieces
Under President Obama, data transparency, private-sector innovation, and a renewed commitment to expanding opportunity could revolutionize housing and urban planning. But just as proponents of equity, open government data, and social entrepreneurship are being appointed to key positions, and while the administration is still young, the new HUD/DOT sustainable communities initiative illustrates why the devil is in the details.
Beware the Myth
In the Spring 2009 issue of Shelterforce, now available to view online at www.shelterforce.org, Nandinee K. Kutty, an author and economist who works in housing and urban policy worries that […]
Federal Stimulus Threatened to Overrun Small Town with Sprawl
The federal government has a history of subsidizing sprawl, wittingly or not. Even the Clean Water Act contains a mechanism that, according to my NRDC colleague Nancy Stoner, “continues to […]
Jack Kemp: Stalwart of the Party of Lincoln
Jack Kemp will be remembered for his many roles in public life — as the quarterback for the Buffalo Bills, as U.S. Congressman (from Buffalo, NY), the HUD Secretary (under […]