Shelterforce

It's been a year since Catalunya implemented rent control. How well is it working, and why have tenants rallied for more protections? Olivia Haber Greenwood reports. Read the full story at https://shelterforce.org/2025/04/03/in-barcelona-rent-control-shows-promise-but-short-term-rentals-limit-progress/

After organizing and giving input for decades, the community around the Kingsbridge Armory might actually see it redeveloped—and they want to continue to have a say in how it goes. Max Parrott reports. Read the full story at https://shelterforce.org/2025/04/02/theres-a-community-oversight-fight-brewing-in-the-bronx/ ℗ Music by ComaStudio

The Mount Laurel Doctrine is credited with helping to create 75,000 affordable homes in New Jersey. But, of course, it hasn’t been a simple panacea either. Shelterforce's Miriam Axel-Lute explains: Read the full piece and check out the related stories at https://shelterforce.org/2025/03/28/in-new-jersey-pivotal-affordable-housing-decision-turns-50/

A law professor explains why housing should be—and someday might be—considered a human right in the United States. Read the piece at https://shelterforce.org/2025/03/25/six-reasons-why-housing-is-a-human-right/

As Trump reshapes the federal landscape, Housing Choice Voucher recipients, landlords, and administrators brace for potential funding cuts and fiscal chaos. Shelby R. King reports. Read the full story at https://shelterforce.org/2025/03/18/section-8-under-trump-how-policy-uncertainty-is-affecting-affordable-housing/

The Environmental Protection Agency says $20 billion in green funding for low-income communities was mismanaged and issued with political bias, but so far the agency hasn’t produced the evidence needed to legally block the grants. Three nonprofits have filed suit. Shelterforce's Lara Heard reports. Read the full story at https://shelterforce.org/2025/03/14/epa-terminates-already-awarded-climate-fu...

As the housing crisis deepens, interest in faith-based development is spreading across the country. How do "Yes In God’s Backyard (YIGBY)" zoning laws work, where are they being implemented or introduced, and what could it mean for communities and churches? Frances Nguyen, Shelterforce's reporting fellow, takes a closer look. Read the full story at https://shelterforce.org/2025/02/28/the-yigby-mov...

Despite Enterprise Community Partners’ majority voting stake in Bellwether Enterprise, the nonprofit lender long insisted it couldn’t address its subsidiary commercial mortgage lender’s questionable lending for mobile home park purchases. Shelby King reports. Read the full story at

After a years-long, tenant-led effort, Louisville will use a new tool to analyze whether a proposed housing development can meet a neighborhood’s housing needs and income levels. If it doesn’t, the city won’t subsidize it. Listen to "‘Anti-Displacement Tool’ to Direct City Funding to Projects that Won’t Price Out Residents," in Shelterforce. Reporting by Roshan Abraham Read by John Ludas Check out...

Dan Immergluck reviews Brian Goldstone’s upcoming book, "There is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America." Immergluck is a professor of urban studies and public policy at Georgia State University. His research and policy work concerns affordable housing, community development, segregation and gentrification, and urban political economy. Read the full review at https://shelterforce.org/20...

Manufactured housing communities have long been an affordable housing option for millions of people living in the U.S., but that affordability is disappearing rapidly. How did we get here? Shelby R. King reports. Read the full story at https://shelterforce.org/2025/03/04/manufactured-crisis-losing-the-nations-largest-source-of-unsubsidized-affordable-housing/

More than $3 billion in funding was awarded to programs that help unhoused people. That money was supposed to start rolling out in January, but nonprofit leaders tell us they haven't received anything yet—putting critical homelessness services at risk. What's going on? Listen to, "HUD Staff Cuts and Grant Delays Endanger Homelessness Services." Reporting by Roshan Abraham; read by John Ludas. Read...

A lease agreement with the city of Sacramento allowed encampment residents to stay indefinitely while they sought permanent housing. When the agreement fell apart, the residents, many of whom are disabled, say they were left without an accessible place to go. Reporting by Roshan Abraham Read by John Ludas Read the story at https://shelterforce.org/2025/01/31/encampment-residents-thought-theyd-foun...

Decades of increasing costs and deferred maintenance could lead to people losing their homes, unless changes are made. Karen Black explains more in, "Condos—a Key Source of Affordable Housing for Homeowners—Are in Jeopardy."

More and more cities and states have plans to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in housing. Here's how we can avoid possible harms to renters. Chelsea Kirk—a tenant organizer, researcher, and policy advocate in Los Angeles—explains why. Read the piece at https://shelterforce.org/2025/02/07/we-need-a-plan-for-decarbonization-that-doesnt-displace-renters/

The president pushed for sweeping crackdowns and the possible internment of people experiencing homelessness. To see what's coming, we should look to what states have already done. Listen to, "Trump Wants to Force Homeless People into ‘Tent Cities.’ Can He?," read by John Ludas. Reporting by Roshan Abraham. Read the story at https://shelterforce.org/2025/02/14/trump-wants-to-force-homeless-people-...

The president's executive orders threaten the funding of a wide range of housing programs in the U.S. Over a dozen federal grantees told us how they've been affected, and how they're planning for an uncertain future. Miriam Axel-Lute and Lara heard report: "What Trump’s DEI Orders Could Mean for Housing." Read the full story at https://shelterforce.org/2025/02/21/what-trumps-dei-orders-could-mean-...

The Ebony Beach Club was supposed to open in the 1950s, but the city used eminent domain to seize the site. Los Angeles artist Autumn Breon chats with Shelterforce's Lara Heard about how the story inspired her multidisciplinary art event and why she's inspired by the history of Black leisure sites. See photos from the event and more at https://shelterforce.org/2025/02/12/art-exploring-black-leisur...

We don’t often make a clear distinction between investors and speculators, which makes it harder to identify harmful behavior—and to find solutions for it. Shelterforce's Miriam Axel-Lute explains. Read more at https://shelterforce.org/2025/02/05/whats-in-a-name-investors-vs-speculators/

The day after a judge put a temporary block on a federal funding freeze, the administration rescinded the memo that started it all. Here's why mixed messaging has left advocates confused--and housing funds in jeopardy. Shelterforce's Miriam Axel-Lute reports. Read the full story at https://shelterforce.org/2025/01/29/federal-funding-freeze-memo-rescinded-but-were-not-out-of-the-woods-yet/

Many affordable housing developers worry Trump’s proposed taxes on imports and crackdown on immigration will be detrimental to the industry. Others hope deregulation reduces development costs enough to offset those effects. What’s the most likely outcome? Shelterforce's Shelby R. King reports. Read the full article at https://shelterforce.org/2025/01/24/how-might-tariffs-and-deportations-affect-af...

Los Angeles has imposed an additional tax on luxury home sales to generate millions for housing efforts in the city. Shelterforce's Lara Heard checks in on where the money has gone, and what’s to come. Read the story at https://shelterforce.org/2025/01/17/what-has-measure-ula-done-so-far/

For such a commonly used term, “affordable housing” means a lot of different things to different people and in different contexts. Shelterforce Miriam Axel-Lute explains. Read the full story with additional resources at https://shelterforce.org/2025/01/23/what-is-affordable-housing/

Advocates are looking for common ground to work with the new administration, but are also prepared to defend critical policies and programs that could come under attack. Shelterforce's Miriam Axel-Lute reports. Read the full story at https://shelterforce.org/2025/01/17/how-housing-and-community-development-advocates-are-preparing-for-trump/

Kansas City tenants launched a rent strike in October. With a new administration coming into office, it might be too late for a federal rent cap—but they're still pushing for better conditions. Roshan Abraham reads his latest story, "Time’s Running Out. Striking Kansas City Tenants Want the Government to Act." Read the full story at https://shelterforce.org/2025/01/09/times-running-out-striking-ka...