housing co-ops

Versions of a law known as the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act are being proposed across the country—in places like New York, Massachusetts and California. Could giving tenants a first right of purchase further protect renters?

What kinds of emergency measures are advocacy organizations proposing to make sure that when small businesses can open again, they’ll be financially able to do so?

“We could use some gentrification here.” Let’s never say this—we must refrain from debating the long-term likelihood of gentrification in distressed places.

How investments can be leveraged to ensure residents get to stay in their communities and reap the benefits of new amenities and increased accessibility.

The Gordon H. Mansfield Veterans Community in Agawam, Massachusetts, offers housing for homeless veterans, along with access to various other supportive services.

Four scalable land and housing models can provide justice, and homes, for our communities. But we need support to protect them from market pressure.

Unlike so many owners who are quickly selling their properties to the highest bidder amidst rising real estate values, an East Oakland landlord was intent on giving the existing tenants a fair shot to purchase the property.

In the face of accelerating gentrification, along with ongoing speculation and eviction, the idea of putting a substantial number of homes outside of the reach of the speculative market has been gaining momentum across the country.

When this limited-equity cooperative in California began more than 30 years ago, it wasn’t the most affordable place to live. But now the co-op’s monthly costs are 50 percent lower than the average market-rate apartment.

Though the need is greater than ever for resale-restricted, affordable homes, the growth of this model of homeownership appears to be limited.

For Section 8 recipients, a step toward economic mobility (and community control) can be limited-equity cooperatives. A Section 8 voucher can be used to pay some of the monthly carrying costs of a co-op unit.

Stabilizing their home came at a steep price. These residents no longer face the threat of possible eviction, but they now confront the well-disguised iron hand of the market wrapped in the velvet gloves of “affordability” and “fairness,” pitting them against efforts by their public financiers to force them into higher rents over time.