Archives
Direct Action for Housing
Direct action protest tactics for affordable housing can support efforts of lobbying groups.
The Power of the Community Press
When grassroots groups in the North Lawndale community of Chicago protested the lack of local labor in the reconstruction of an elevated subway line,...
Millennial Misfire: the Millennial Housing Commission Report
It’s telling that the nation’s major news media virtually ignored the Millennial Housing Commission’s May 30 press conference and the release of its report,...
Landlords Blacklist Activist Tenants
"You can’t get an apartment if you were evicted,” said the broker before she hung up on me. “The reason doesn’t matter.”
I had already...
Beyond the Fringe: Predatory Financial Services
When the Maryland Center for Community Development (MCCD) began to examine the financial services available to low-income people statewide in 1999, its goal was...
Stepping Up the Pressure on Payday Lenders
Payday loans – one- or two-week consumer loans with exorbitant interest rates – are the antithesis of sound community banking. But banks that should...
Livable and Affordable: Good design in affordable housing
Although many developers consider “good design” an unnecessary frill, it can contribute to affordability. In fact, poor design can compromise the effort to address...
Old Story – New Twist
Thankfully, it’s not 1991 all over again. Despite similarities and some setbacks, there are hopeful signs ahead. Most of our readers know that the...
Shelter Shorts: Community Development News
Down But Not Out
The campaign for a National Housing Trust Fund suffered a setback in July, when the House Financial Services Committee voted 35-34...
High Stakes for Public Housing: Organizing Public Housing Residents
The Millennial Housing Commission (MHC) report represents stage two in an agenda to give increased decision-making powers to local public housing agencies, and target...
Nonprofit Enterprise
For someone who’s spent 20 years trying to right the wrongs created by our economic system, I’ve come to a startling discovery: Commerce can...
Boom – The Sound of Eviction
Boom - The Sound of Eviction (96 minutes, 2002), a documentary directed by Francine Cavanaugh, A. Mark Liiv, and Adams Wood. Individuals $20 donation...
FHA, Turning an American Dream into a Neighborhood Nightmare
Neighborhood leaders know that it is impossible to truly revitalize communities without solving the severe housing abandonment and foreclosure problems plaguing urban areas. It...