Videos

Shelterforce offers various explainer videos, interviews with folks doing important work in the affordable housing and community development space, informative webinars, and more. 

Jennifer Made, a Newark, New Jersey, native who formed the Newark Community Action Network.

Building Community Power in Newark, NJ

Jennifer Made started organizing at 13 and began feeding her community at 19, an effort that grew into the Newark Community Action Network.
The card for Women of Color, an interview with Kea Mathis.

Through Her Eyes: Community Organizing in Detroit

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.

How to Build a YIMBY/Tenant Activist Bridge, a Shelterforce Webinar

Shelterforce’s investigative reporter Shelby R. King wrote two pieces about YIMBY (Yes in My Back Yard) groups in 2022, including one that focused on shared interests between YIMBY supporters and housing justice organizers.   The...

Taking the ADU Model to the Next Level, a Shelterforce and Next City Webinar

How can we get more accessory dwelling units built, keep them affordable, and make them forces for increasing racial equity?
An ad for Shelterforce's webinar, "Fighting Back Against Corporate Landlords." We had four speakers.

Fighting Back Against Corporate Landlords—A Shelterforce Webinar

Shelterforce recently hosted a conversation about how to fight, and win, against corporate landlords and their extractive business models. Watch the video or read the transcript.
A group of adults and children stand with colorful orange, yellow and blue signs. One sign reads, "Stop increasing our Rent."

Top 6 Tenant Protections Renters Are Fighting For

Tenants are organizing together with increased urgency to get legal protections passed in their towns, cities, and states. What are the top protections tenants are fighting for?

Developing Radical Goals for Black Homeownership: An NCRC Panel Discussion

What can be done to significantly advance Black homeownership and access to affordable housing? Watch the panel discussion.
An illustration showing the word "financialization" in a bubble.

What Is the Financialization of Housing?

It's a wonky term with real-life consequences. At its most basic level, the "financialization of housing" means treating a home like a financial asset first, and a place to live second. But there are many more perspectives.

Why Wealth Matters to Your Health: A Webinar

How did the racial wealth gap begin? And why has it been so hard to fix? Shelterforce's Miriam Axel-Lute and others discuss these topics in a webinar hosted by County Health Rankings & Roadmaps.
From left, Steve Dubb of NPQ, Anne Price of Insight Center for Community Economic Development, Jeremie Greer of Liberation in a Generation, Gary Cunningham of Prosperity Now, john a. powell of the Othering & Belonging Institute, and Miriam Axel-Lute of Shelterforce.

Closing the Racial Wealth Gap: A Webinar with NPQ

Four leaders in the field discuss strategic approaches to closing the racial wealth gap.

Tenant Rights in Our Backyard—A Panel Discussion

Tenant activists discuss how the housing movement can do better at aligning itself with the tenants' rights movement.

What’s an Accessory Dwelling Unit?

The cost of housing has skyrocketed across the United States. As a response, some states and localities have legalized accessory dwelling units in hopes of expanding the supply of affordable housing. But what are ADUs?

Push Back on the Racial Wealth Gap—A Shelterforce Webinar

Authors from Shelterforce’s recent series about the racial wealth gap and other experts talk wealth building, wealth extraction, and the tools available to help close the gap.

Mattye Berry-Evans, a Member of the Resident Action Network

“Each and every person should have the opportunity to have safe, secure, adequate, and affordable housing. I wasn't able to have it, but I can help others have it.”

3D-Printed Houses: New Trend or Lasting Solution?

Habitat for Humanity sponsored a virtual panel discussion on 3D-printed homes, moderated by Shelterforce's editor in chief, Miriam Axel-Lute.

Omari Ho-Sang—A Housing Activist in Louisiana

March being Women’s History Month—an ideal time to celebrate the brave, bold, and thoughtful women who are influencing history—Shelterforce and Community Change have decided to continue the video series: Women of Color on the Front Lines.

Rethinking the Racial Wealth Gap With Anne Price

A lot of conversations about the racial wealth gap focuses too much on homeownership as the only solution. It's much more complex. Shelterforce's Miriam Axel-Lute talks with Anne Price, president of the Insight Center for Community Economic Development.

Cynthia Wiggins—A Community Leader in New Orleans

Cynthia Wiggins was introduced to housing organizing earlier on in life and has been ceaseless in her efforts to help her community.

Vy Le—A Resident Services Manager in Washington State

Vy Le’s perseverance as an immigrant, unbeknownst to her, was preparation for a later fight to remove barriers for others facing similar challenges.

Idalia Rios—A Community Organizer in California

Idalia Rios began her organizing career advocating for her son, who has a speech delay. In the process, she learned that even when advocacy begins with your own family, you have to fight for the class, school, and larger community to achieve lasting change.