Michigan

What makes a home habitable? What makes habitability laws successful? In this webinar, an organizer in New Orleans and a representative from a nonprofit working with communities across the country affected by vacancy and abandonment share their perspectives.

With higher-valued properties under assessed and lower-valued properties over assessed, advocates say there’s still a problem with Detroit’s property tax system.

We share images from six of the cities around the country where members of three national organizing networks took action on May 20 to protest cuts to federal housing funding and lift up local solutions.

It’s been 14 years since the Community Development Advocates of Detroit opened its membership to resident-led groups. Here’s a look at what they’ve learned about working together and navigating the transition.

A SCOTUS ruling that protects a homeowner’s equity may end up benefiting speculators and hurting land banks.

Strict zoning policies keep housing unaffordable. But there are strategies governments can implement to change exclusionary housing policies and promote the construction of more affordable housing.

Are the neighborhoods impacted by large development getting the jobs and affordable housing they were promised? Shelterforce looks back at several cities where community benefits agreements were won to find out where those agreements now stand.

As communities discuss reeling in their police departments, Flint, Michigan and Binghamton, New York have turned to another tool to reduce crime.

How the nonprofit Focus: HOPE is helping to bring manufacturing jobs back to Detroit, and the Detroiters who need them.

Even the most sophisticated private and nonprofit partnerships for dealing with vacant property will end up with some properties that don’t pencil out. Land banks can step in to keep those properties from dragging down revitalization efforts.

“When we try to stabilize neighborhoods, rather than being scattered in approach, we try to buy as many properties as possible in a given location and then protect our investment […]

Film director Michael Moore is launching the State Theatre/Michigan Downtowns Project, which aims to promote nonprofit movie theaters as vehicles for revitalizing Michigan towns.