Archives
Building a Better Housing Policy
Shelterforce editor Alice Chasan talks to Jonathan F. Fanton, president of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, about an ambitious new project aimed at reframing the national conversation about why housing matters.
A Hometown with You in Mind?
A new book rating more than 400 U.S. metropolitan areas taps Gainesville, Fla., as the best place to live in the country. In the...
Small is Beautiful – Again
The shrinking cities movement imagines revitalization without growth - and housing advocates take a hard look at what that means for the poor.
Conversation Starter
How do we take care of our own? It’s a deceptively simple question that’s so fraught with contention in the American public discourse that...
Mock the Vote
Since the Justice Department axed nine U.S. attorneys, all eyes have been on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, but the scandal began with a GOP strategy to stifle grass-roots registration of poor minority voters.
Weathering the Storm
As the foreclosure tsunami sweeps through Ohio's communities, housing advocates devise strategies to keep homeowners from being pulled under.
Meeting the Foreclosure Crisis
Every day, news reports document rising foreclosures and their growing impact on our economy. As the congressional representative from Ohio’s north coast – a...
Losing Ground
In communities of color throughout New York City, growing numbers of homeowners with subprime mortgages are finding themselves at risk of losing their homes, the bitter fruit of years of predatory lending practices.
American Nightmare
Homeowners under threat of foreclosure suffer a level of trauma that's largely invisible to most Americans, while professionals working to keep people in their homes are often overwhelmed by the complexity of the crisis.
The ABCs of Organizing
I left a perfectly good job in a curtain factory in Holyoke, Mass., in 1971 to work in a neighborhood organization on the south...
Praise for the Peacock
Shelterforce never shies away from chiding mainstream media for ignoring America’s affordable-housing crisis, so we shouldn’t hesitate to give praise where it’s due. Kudos...
Not That Happy Anymore
Things are heating up in Anaheim, Calif., where a dispute between the city council, a housing developer, and the Walt Disney Company has turned...
Stripped of Duty
All 22 staff members of the Berkeley Housing Authority were fired in late spring after an investigation uncovered abuses within the agency, which receives...
Martinez Makes Amends
Housing advocates are wondering if Mel Martinez had a conversion on the road to the Capitol. His record as HUD secretary merited failing grades...
Half-Truths on the Hudson
Through the rose-colored glasses of USA Today, Jersey City looks fabulous. America’s newspaper ran a feature article describing how the Hudson County city-long before...
Long Time Coming
After 40 years of abuse and neglect, will the residents of D.C.'s once-vibrant Shaw neighborhood succeed in redefining the value of people and place?
A Matter of Trust
Although a March 2007 Zogby International poll found that affordable housing was an important election issue, most elected officials have yet to place creating...
Taxation of Shared-Equity Homes
In 2004, the National Housing Institute launched an ongoing research project on shared-equity homeownership, focusing on three models of resale-restricted, owner-occupied housing: limited-equity cooperatives;...