Archives
Has Homeownership Been Oversold?
Discussion about homeownership almost always seems to begin with some reference to owning one’s own home being a part of “The American Dream.” Homeownership...
Building Assets with Permanently Affordable Housing
Since 1984, the Burlington Community Land Trust (BCLT) in Burlington, VT, has developed and sold nearly 250 single-family houses and condominiums to first-time homebuyers....
Section 8 Is Broken
The Patterson Park neighborhood, on the East Side of Baltimore, stands perched precariously between renewal and collapse. A mixed-income population, almost evenly divided between...
Building Wealth
Community development corporations have attracted billions of dollars of public and private funds to revitalize urban neighborhoods and rural communities. But global and national...
HUD’s Exit Strategy?
“All of the truly needy will not get vouchers. I’ll say that in a minute,” the HUD secretary bluntly told editors of the Washington...
Shelter Shorts
Dubious DistinctionHomeowners in the Bronx and Brooklyn – mostly low- and moderate-income families – pay more of their income on housing than people anywhere...
Winning a War, But Losing the Battle
Victory in a tenant organizing campaign is usually defined by improving conditions for the tenants involved – an egregious repair problem is fixed, landlord...
The United Way’s New Business Plan for Community Development
These cannot be fun times at the United Way of America (UW). An astonishing scandal at the National Capital chapter, covering Washington, DC, and...
How a City Was Changed Forever
City for Sale: The Transformation of San Francisco, by Chester Hartman with Sarah Carnochan. Revised and Updated Edition. University of California Press, 2002. 432...
Local Lessons for Legislators
The new legislative season is usually a time of optimism for housing advocates, many of whom believe that the right words, coupled with the...