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affordable housing

Dedicated from the beginning to everyone working to empower and support low-income communities, Shelterforce provides a venue for conversations that need to be had—on topics such as housing affordability, homeownership, and lots more.

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These HUD Cuts Have Gotten Less Attention, But the Effects Will Still Be Harmful

Technical assistance might seem dull, but it’s vital for addressing the homelessness and housing crisis. And it's about to be a lot harder for federal grantees to get.

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Reported Article

Reining in Rising Property Insurance Rates 

There are many proposed ways to mitigate the property insurance cost crisis. They all require federal or state government to act.

View from across the street of a restored nine-story building dating from 1909. The facade is brick and terra cotta, with arch details over the second-story windows and on the top floor windows.
Whatever Happened to ...

The Permanent Affordability That Wasn’t: Lessons from the Pythian Building

A high-stakes, high-profile community land trust project once hailed as a triumph in New Orleans ended in disaster for its residents, but it’s important to draw the right lessons about why.

Seven people wearing jackets and caps on a city sidewalk holding signs that say "Listen to UREB," "Save Our Homes," "Negotiate with UREB," or "5,000 Against Displacement." One person is speaking into a microphone. At the curb by the speaker is a van with WRLC painted on the side, for Western Reserve Land Conservancy.
Reported Article

Nonprofit to Close Mobile Home Community to Build a Park

Ohio’s largest conservation land trust has been accused of purchasing a manufactured housing community with the very intention of closing it, evicting more than 100 households in the process. But proponents of the park’s closure say the land’s failing infrastructure—and the benefit the property will bring to an entire city—is what forced the decision.

Roadside sign in red and blue print on white background reads "Welcome to the/Red Lake Nation/NW Angle MN/Home of the Red Lake Band/of Chippewa Indians. The sign is hung on two wooden stanchions set into the grassy roadside. Behind it in the distance is a thick stand of tall straight trees, possibly poplars. Behind the trees in the sky is a puffy cloud, in a sky of blue.
Reported Article

Tribal-Sponsored Development Offers Housing and More in Minneapolis

A hub for health care, social services, and community, the Mino-Bimaadiziwin apartments meet the unique needs of urban Native Americans while enriching the surrounding community.

Close up view of rock, scissors, and a sheet of white paper on a red table or desk. The rock is oval gray rock with a band of white quartz through it, the scissors have purple plastic grips and metal blades. The scissors are positioned such that they appear to have just cut the paper, and the rock is resting on the paper, half concealed by a portion of it.
Opinion

Legitimate Debate or Short-Sighted Complaints? 5 Reasons Affordable Housing Is Expensive to Build

There’s no denying that affordable housing can be expensive to build. But we need to look at the long-term benefits of those investments to see the bigger picture.

A sign on a brick wall advising drivers of a steep hill. The sign is all-caps black lettering on a white background.
Reported Article

How ‘Tenant Stewards’ Are Using TOPA to Form a Co-op

Organized by a pandemic-era mutual aid group, this housing cooperative is taking advantage of D.C.’s pioneering Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act. But the pressure of paying back a loan with mounting interest could stymie the group’s plans to provide affordable housing.

multifamily buildings
Opinion

The FSS Program Was Expanded Beyond Public Housing Authorities—Here’s How It’s Going

In 2018, the Family Self-Sufficiency Program was expanded to privately owned properties receiving project-based rental assistance. Here’s a look at how early adopters have used the program to support residents, and the lessons they learned along the way.

Close-up of document titled "Rent Increase Notice." Text is partly hidden by a blue and silver ballpoint pen. Visible text says "...inform you that beginning on ____ .... increase by $_____. No other ..... to original rental agreement.... monthly payment is due on the first...."
Reported Article

How Tenant Activists Won Protections Against Mid-Lease Rent Hikes in Affordable Housing

Last year, we reported on tenants in Northern Virginia LIHTC properties whose rents were raised in the middle of their leases. Here’s how other states have banned the practice.

A graphic showing buildings, some shaded in red, to illustrate Shelterforce's new Under the Lens series, LIHTC: The Good, the Bad, and the Very Complicated
Reported Article

LIHTC: How It Started, How It’s Going

The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit was created in a moment when other real estate tax preferences were going away—but at the time, no one expected it to grow into the main source of affordable housing finance in the country.

A view of a city from a grassy hillside. Just beyond the hill is a large settlement of one- and two-story houses, mostly visible by their roofs. Beyond them rises a steep, evergreen-dotted, and rocky mountain. The sky far beyond is white, except for a bit of blue at the right. No people are visible in this photo.
Reported Article

Western States Look to These Lands for New Affordable Housing

In several western states, state-owned trust lands were created to support schools and other community benefits.

A Black woman, wearing a white scarf and black robe and holding a microphone, speaks inside a room. Sitting are four people listening, and others are standing in the back.
Practitioner Voice

Preparing Underinvested Communities for New Funding

Underinvested communities are at a disadvantage when it comes to attracting and deploying funding. The Center for Community Investment is helping to change that.

A gray brick building has a red sign that reads "American Hotel" in the front. Two women, both wearing white t-shirts and jeans, appear to be taking photos, but are in motion. On their right, a man with a cap, white t-shirt, and jeans walks by. Three other people are passing by in the background of the photo.
Reported Article

Checked Out: How LA Failed to Stop Landlords From Turning Low-Cost Housing Into Tourist Hotels

Fifteen years ago Los Angeles passed a law to preserve residential hotels as housing of last resort. Now, amid the homelessness crisis, Capital & Main and ProPublica found some hotels may be violating that law by offering rooms to tourists.