The community development field is in an interesting and challenging spot right now. Our new Under the Lens series zooms in and explores this moment in the field.

History often feels like a depressing account of the worst things people can do to each other. But a recent book contains reminders that nothing is inevitable, and sometimes people have done better than we’re doing now—even in terms of housing and social equity.

A hub for health care, social services, and community, the Mino-Bimaadiziwin apartments meet the unique needs of urban Native Americans while enriching the surrounding community.

In São Paulo, vacant housing units outnumber the unhoused, 12 times over. Across the city, residents have responded by seizing abandoned buildings to turn them into affordable housing. Will the government step up to convert these buildings into public housing?

A church with a shrinking congregation sold its land to SquareOne Villages to develop the Peace Village Co-op, a 70-unit housing development that’s both a community land trust and limited-equity co-op. How does combining these shared-equity homeownership models work?

Five women from diverse backgrounds who span the country—Missouri, New Mexico, Hawaii, California, and Texas—got together with Shelterforce to talk about the community development field and their work in it.