technology

New software and web-based applications help speed up the recertification process for voucher holders, give tenants an easier way to request repairs and communicate with staff, and help disabled residents live more independent lives.

As the mortgage industry becomes further automated, can artificial intelligence be trained to avoid replicating historic bias and expand access to loans for excluded borrowers? Some housing advocates are cautiously optimistic.

We’ve found more than a dozen examples of tenant-serving technology that help renters identify landlords, respond to eviction, fight back against housing discrimination, and more.

Thousands of companies offer tenant screening tools that promise to make life easier for landlords and property managers. But reports show that the data these companies use is often riddled with errors and relies on information that has no bearing on whether someone will be a good tenant.

Shelterforce’s Lillian Ortiz explains what you can expect in our new Under the Lens series—How Tech Is Changing Housing.

A lack of internet access and charging stations makes it challenging for unhoused folks to maintain a working cellphone, posing a threat to their safety and ability to follow up with service providers or connect with employers.

Texas-based RealPage’s YieldStar software helps landlords set prices for apartments across the U.S. With rents soaring, critics are concerned that the company’s proprietary algorithm is hurting competition.

Between biased property appraisals that undervalue Black-owned properties and biased tax assessments that levy an unfair burden, homeowners of color are flanked by a double-whammy of racism.

We talk a lot about needing more affordable housing—but the affordable units that do exist can be very hard to locate, which hampers fair housing.

Internet connectivity has become equally important to households as basic utilities, but millions of people who live in affordable housing still lack access to devices and connections. Housing managers across the country are finding innovative ways to close the digital gap.

The landlord tech industry, while alive and well prior to COVID-19, has ramped up in the past year to develop new ways to accumulate wealth at the expense of tenants. 

We are definitely in some danger of losing a connection to the animating social movements that gave rise to the industry.