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A group of building blocks on a table with buildings printed on them. Above them is a projected image of two boys on bikes wearing futuristic gear.

Exhibition Explores Black Displacement, Creating Home in Oakland

Learn the stories of two communities where Black homes were destroyed, and see the vision community members have of a future Oakland.

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Under a blue sky, in a large arching gateway is suspended a banner that reads "End Rent Burden." Below it is a line of 11 picketers holding signs that say "UAW on Strike: Unfair Labor Practice." A passerby is talking to one of the picketers.
Opinion

Tenants Rights Advance in California

Reaction to the housing crisis in California has led to a series of gains for tenants, including a new Renters’ Caucus.

On a bulletin board or thick cardboard backing are taped 11 clippings of news headlines, cartoons, and newsletter covers, all about the tenant organizing movement of the 1970s and '80s.
From the Field

The Rise and Fall of the National Tenants Union

The National Tenants Union fought for tenant rights in the 1970s and early 1980s. One of the union’s founders reflects on the organization and what we might learn from those times.

One man holds a microphone and raises his other hand while speaking outside, and behind him, a person holds a white and black sign.
Tenant Organizing

Organized Tenants Are Baaaaack

After a lull in the 1990s, the tenants rights movement reemerged and has only gained strength. What caused the resurgence and what do tenants’ prospects look like?

Interview

The Making of Co-op City, the Nation’s Biggest Housing Co-op

Co-op City in the Bronx is the size of a small city—as well as a decades old housing co-op and an island of comparative affordability. How did it come about?

Opinion

How the Federal Reserve’s Monetary Policy Drives Housing Inequality

If high home prices and rents are hallmarks of inequality, the actions of the Federal Reserve should give us pause. Its policy interventions have had profound effects on housing prices.

An illustration of homes on a conveyor belt going through a machine and coming out as golden homes. Green dollar bills are coming out of the homes. This illustrates the financialization of housing.
Opinion

The Financialization of Housing and Its Implications for Community Development

Over the last two decades homeowners and investors have increasingly treated housing as a financial asset, like stocks or bonds. How has this changed the housing market for the worse, and how can we fix it?

An aerial view of East Palo Alto.
Housing

How Rent Control Helped Create East Palo Alto

The story of East Palo Alto’s incorporation is one marked by great contention among local stakeholders, but also provides valuable lessons for organizers in forging and mobilizing local coalitions.

Housing

When the Unemployed Fought Back

During the Great Depression, unemployed people organized and put their lives on the line to keep each other in their homes.

From the Field

Doing “The Right Thing” Won’t Close the Racial Wealth Gap

Solutions to address racial wealth inequality have often focused on behavioral changes and individual choices, minimizing efforts to dismantle structural barriers to wealth accumulation for Black Americans.

Housing

Philly’s 1970s Fight to Revive Rent Control

As rent control reemerges as a strategy to address an intense housing crisis, we go back 50 years to examine the lessons learned from past struggles in Philadelphia.

A black-and-white photo showing a large group of milling people near a sign that reads "Crestwood Hills/For information regarding this property/Mutual Housing Assn. Inc."
From the Field

The Cooperative Struggle Against Redlining

Many people are familiar with redlining, but less well known are the handful of cooperatives that sprouted up following WWII with a bold mission: providing integrated, community-owned housing.

Squatters occupy the Arion building in Seattle after it sat vacant for months. There are signs that read "Operation Homestead" and "It's Alive" outside the large white building.
Housing

History Shows that in Times of Crisis, Housing Activists Get Radical

A recent spate of vacant home occupations echo squatters campaigns of the past.