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California

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A firefighter with a rake works in wreckage, surrounded by smoke.

The Climate Crisis Hits Tenants Hardest. They’re Fighting Back.

From California to North Carolina, tenants are organizing to demand protections from natural disasters.

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Organizing

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.

Opinion

How Affordable Housers Perpetuate Past Harms, and How They Can Do Better

Some elements of affordable housing—from the development process to the way buildings are managed—are rooted in racist assumptions that dehumanize residents. Here are some simple ways you can be a better housing provider.

A downhill view from the center yellow line of a street in San Francisco, taking in several blocks. Several cars are parked along the left, uphill side. Fewer cars are parked on the right side. A man in dark clothes is crossing from right. The sky behind the scene is light blue and cloudy white.
Reported Article

A Once Reliable Way to Refinance Older Affordable Housing Gets Harder to Access

It had been relatively easy for a developer to get 4 percent tax credits, but that’s no longer true in many places. How is this affecting nonprofit housing developers—and could the human infrastructure bill help?

Reported Article

Scaling Up: How Some Community Land Trusts Are Getting Bigger

The community land trust model is in a time of dramatic growth and creativity. Some CLTs are aiming for larger scale than has been typical. How are they doing it?

Reported Article

Rescue Plan has Billions Available for Housing, Advocates Urge Officials to Take It

With relatively few strings attached to the $350 billion in funds states and municipalities will receive, the door is wide open for governments to make a dent in their housing needs. But will they?

CDFIs

How CDFIs are Helping Small Businesses Create Good Jobs

Community development financial institutions lend to micro- and small-business owners, but the jobs those businesses create are often minimum wage, part time, or otherwise low quality. What makes a job a good job, and what are CDFIs doing to help small-business borrowers create good jobs?

Housing

Build Modular Housing Factories Near Areas with High Housing Costs

To improve housing costs and economic conditions at once, look to the locations of modular housing factories.

Whatever Happened to ...

CLTs Still Going Commercial—Nonprofit Offices, Hairdressers, and a Sausage Factory

Community land trusts, better known for permanently affordable housing, expand into commercial spaces for a wide range of reasons, and in a wide range of ways.

Reported Article

As the Pandemic Continues, Officials Look to Long-Term Housing Options with Hotels

Advocates point to a bevy of successes in slowing the spread of the virus, but authorities struggle with cost burden.

A city scene in Newark New Jersey.
Whatever Happened to ...

Looking Back: Democratic Philanthropy, Newark on the Rise, the Surplus Land Campaign, and More

In this first installment of updates to Shelterforce articles of old, we find that market dynamics are different in many places we’ve written about, but many of the organizations fighting the good fight are continuing to do so, even in changed times.

A polling place in a space that appears to be a gymnasium. (A large Nike "whoosh" banner hangs high on the wall.) There are two curtained voting booths on wheels, and the lower legs and feet of a voter can be seen behind one of the curtains. The second booth is partly hidden, but a woman in jeans and a blouse is standing in front of it. She may be a voter or a poll worker. A volunteer poll worker seated at a folding table is signing in a voter, and two other people wait in line to sign in.
Policy

Did America Vote to Tackle Race and Health Inequities?

The ushering in of a new administration is a good time to reflect on some key 2020 ballot measures that have either advanced or hurt racial and health equity.

Equity

A Bolder Future for Housing Justice: ‘These Times Call for Radical Actions’

Housing advocates working at the local, state, and national levels discuss new research and policy recommendations for advancing housing justice.