Tag: San Francisco
Philanthropy Has Been Trying to Buy Buildings for the Arts for...
San Francisco’s CounterPulse shows how arts organizations can take advantage of a lease-to-own model.
Is the Solution to Homelessness Obvious?
Some say yes. But simply making it easier to build will not reach those who are unhoused.
Fighting Back Against Corporate Landlords—A Shelterforce Webinar
Shelterforce recently hosted a conversation about how to fight, and win, against corporate landlords and their extractive business models. Watch the video or read the transcript.
Going Home: LGBTQ Renters Find Housing on Facebook
Niche groups on Facebook help the LGBTQ community find affordable housing with folks who share their values.
Can We Prevent Slumlords from Buying More Buildings?
Why should owners of buildings in illegally poor repair be able to buy more rentals? As Washington, D.C., found, it’s not the easiest thing to prevent.
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.
Restorative Housing Policy: Can We Heal the Wounds of Redlining and...
Our fair housing laws enshrine an approach that prohibits us from explicitly referring to race, even in programs intended to undo the harm caused by racism. Now restorative housing policy is attempting to directly confront this history.
How Much Time Does Trauma-Informed Community Building Take? It’s Complicated
Building trust takes time. How does that factor into project timelines, and what recommendations do housing development leaders have for others seeking to shift to more resident-centered practices.
Putting in the Labor to Support Affordable Homes
With notoriously high housing costs in San Francisco pushing workers across occupations out of the city and into long commutes, the value of alliances between housing advocates and labor organizers are becoming increasingly clear.
Making Inclusionary Housing Programs a Force for Racial Equity
Three city administrators go beyond the press releases to talk about what it really takes to make an inclusionary housing requirement serve households of color.
Cooperatives and Community Land Trusts: Natural Partners?
Community land trusts provide far fewer units than other forms of affordable housing, but advocates now believe the model can be one possible solution to preserving the affordability of limited-equity co-ops. We take a closer look.
The Hunger Games of Homeless Services
As coordinated entry systems try to match growing numbers of unhoused people with limited amounts of housing, it's more like The Hunger Games than Match.com.
FEMA Offers Full Reimbursement for Pandemic Shelter Costs—But Cities Are Still...
Cities and counties have been slow to take advantage of the promise of full and retroactive FEMA reimbursement to expand emergency housing programs, frustrating housing advocates. What’s getting in the way?
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.
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.
During the Pandemic, Community Development Organizations Prioritize Relief and Assistance Work
While rent relief might not be their mission, organizations are focusing on the immediate needs of residents. But with all of their staff and monetary resources being used to plug holes, some organizations believe they’re a few months or another crisis away from financial disaster.
Affordable Housing for LGBTQ Seniors
LGBTQ seniors are more likely than peers their age to experience discrimination, leaving them more likely to be poor and have chronic health problems. What does it take to create affordable, LGBTQ-friendly senior housing?
We Need Rental Registries Now More Than Ever
Most communities lack a way of collecting real-time data on whether landlords are complying with rules. A rental registry could change that.
More Housing Could Increase Affordability—But Only If You Build It in...
Building more units has been touted as the solution to the housing crisis, but the location of those units may be just as important as the number.
History Shows that in Times of Crisis, Housing Activists Get Radical
A recent spate of vacant home occupations echo squatters campaigns of the past.