Tag: New York
Is Everything in Your Lease Legal? Quite Possibly Not
Some leases plainly contradict state law or include questionable, punitive, or egregiously anti-tenant clauses.
Tenant Protections 101
Tenant advocates have long been pushing for a “tenants bill of rights” to codify rules that protect renters from landlords. Here’s a rundown of the top protections housing justice activists say need to be included.
Top 6 Tenant Protections Renters Are Fighting For
Tenants are organizing together with increased urgency to get legal protections passed in their towns, cities, and states. What are the top protections tenants are fighting for?
Upstate New York Shelter Workers Vote to Unionize
Though Joseph’s House is lauded for its non-judgmental and harm-reduction principles, the shelter’s staff say they need a larger voice in how it’s run.
Hands Off the Houses: Can We Stop Speculative Land Grabs?
From the macro scale to the micro scale, there are many ways in which the housing market playing field is tilted toward financial firms—and many ways being proposed to start to tilt it back.
A New ‘Normal’: Nonprofits and the Next Phase of COVID
Two years after the pandemic began, community development organizations reflect on what’s changed and how they’re moving forward. Some are still in crisis mode; others are refocusing their work.
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.
What’s the Best Way to Judge How Well a City’s Housing...
CityHealth revamps its housing medal criteria, shifts away from inclusionary zoning to flexible funding and tenant protections. “We realized there is no singular policy intervention that can address the whole of affordable housing.”
Minor Defendants: Kids Are Being Named in Evictions
When landlords name minor children in eviction filings, the negative effects could haunt them years later.
As Rent Relief Efforts Drag on, Treasury is Redistributing Funds
“This is not about reward and punishment … It’s about speeding up effective relief for families in need of housing security and eviction protection.”
A Once Reliable Way to Refinance Older Affordable Housing Gets Harder...
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?
Which Community Benefits Agreements Really Delivered?
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.
Western Queens CLT: Looking to Start Big, and Not With Residential...
Western Queens Community Land Trust (WQCLT) was founded in 2019 as the result of a fight against Amazon, which had been eyeing Queens for...
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?
Interboro CLT: A Committed Pipeline from Powerhouse Community Development Groups
Four New York-based organizations work together to place every homeownership unit they develop into a community land trust.
To Fight Family Homelessness, HUD Must Count It Correctly
What should we be doing now to address the increasing number of children who are expected to suffer pandemic-related homelessness?
The Dark Side of Community Preference Policies
Community preference policies give existing residents first dibs on subsidized housing built in their neighborhoods. But what happens when these policies are applied to communities that are exclusive, well-off, and majority white?
As the Pandemic Continues, Officials Look to Long-Term Housing Options with...
Advocates point to a bevy of successes in slowing the spread of the virus, but authorities struggle with cost burden.
Looking Back: Democratic Philanthropy, Newark on the Rise, the Surplus Land...
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.
Can We Curb Crime by Cleaning the Corner?
As communities discuss reeling in their police departments, Flint, Michigan and Binghamton, New York have turned to another tool to reduce crime.