Shelterforce

Grassroots organizers have used the affirmatively furthering fair housing rule to strengthen communities in the past. These examples show what we should advocate for in a new AFFH rule. PolicyLink's Tram Hoang reads "Three Ways AFFH Has Advanced Housing Justice." Read the full story here: https://shelterforce.org/2023/03/21/three-ways-affh-has-advanced-housing-justice/

Avian flu gave companies cover to price gouge. Could the attention to lack of housing supply do the same for landlords? Shelterforce's Miriam Axel-Lute reads her latest piece, "Egg Prices and Rents—What Do They Have in Common?" Read the full piece at https://shelterforce.org/2023/03/03/egg-prices-and-rents-what-do-they-have-in-common/.

The affirmatively furthering fair housing rule was intended to force communities to take action to address housing segregation and discrimination. How has the rule evolved throughout the years, and will a proposed new rule finally put some teeth into the legal concept? Meir Rinde reads, "AFFH’s Bumpy Road to Overcoming Segregation," which is part of Shelterforce's latest Under the Lens series—New...

What’s the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing provision? How has it been enforced in the past? And what do fair housing advocates think of the proposed changes? Shelterforce’s latest Under the Lens series—New AFFH Rules: What You Need to Know—explores that and more. Shelterforce's Miriam Axel-Lute explains what you can expect. Read the full editor's note at https://shelterforce.org/2023/03/13/a...

When a St. Louis-based group convened public housing residents to talk about infant mortality, they discovered a serious housing issue that affected tenants’ health. To the organization’s credit, they didn’t turn away from the problem. Shelby R. King reads, "The Real Reason Why Babies at a St. Louis Public Housing Complex Weren’t Sleeping on Their Own," written by Amanda Abrams. Read the full Shel...

In 2016 KeyBank promised to invest $16.5 billion in low- and moderate-income communities. Six years later, the bank is facing allegations that it not only broke its investment promises, but it actually regressed in the share of its lending that goes to Black communities. Listen to "NCRC Claims KeyBank Broke Promises, Failed Black Homeowners," by Meir Rinde. Read the full Shelterforce story at http...

Can tenant organizers and YIMBY groups work together, despite differences of priorities, and sometimes even values? Listen to "How to Build a YIMBY/Tenant Activist Bridge," a Shelterforce webinar moderated by Shelby R. King. Speakers include: —Lisa Bates, professor at Portland State University in the Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning and in Black Studies —Margot Black, tenants rights org...

Many people are familiar with redlining, but less well known are the handful of cooperatives that sprouted up following WWII with a bold mission: providing integrated, community-owned housing. Miriam Axel-Lute reads, "The Cooperative Struggle Against Redlining," by David Thompson. Read the full story at https://shelterforce.org/2021/08/16/the-cooperative-struggle-against-redlining/

What should we make of the Biden administration’s tenants rights announcement? Miriam Axel-Lute reads "Biden’s Renters Rights Blueprint: Meaningful or Not?" Read the full story here: https://shelterforce.org/2023/02/06/bidens-renter-rights-blueprint-meaningful-or-not/

Requirements to be certified as a community development financial institution (CDFI) will soon change—and some lenders that qualified before might no longer. Meir Rinde reads his latest Shelterforce story, "Major Changes Coming for CDFIs." Read the full story at https://shelterforce.org/2023/01/12/major-changes-coming-for-cdfis/. For more stories like this, go to Shelterforce.org.

Rent for Moms is a fundraising campaign that sought to help 50 single Black moms retain or obtain housing by Christmas. By the end of 2022, the campaign raised more than $100,000 for moms across the nation. Shelterforce's Miriam Axel-Lute talks with Didi Delgado, the organizer of the Rent for Moms campaign. Read the interview at https://shelterforce.org/2022/12/21/instead-of-toys-organizers-want-y...

Tenants got to talk directly to the Biden administration about the need to rein in soaring rents. Will action follow? Meir Rinde reads his latest Shelterforce piece, "Tenant Advocates Wait for Action After Meeting with White House Officials." Read the full story at https://shelterforce.org/2023/01/06/tenant-advocates-wait-for-action-after-meeting-with-white-house-official/

Kansas City is one of a small but growing number of cities that guarantees access to counsel for all tenants facing eviction, regardless of income. Organizers say the seeds were planted back in 2019, the year the city passed a tenant bill of rights. Sandra Larsons reads her latest Shelterforce story, "All Tenants Get Right to Counsel in Kansas City." Read the full story at https://shelterforce.org...

Access to counsel in evictions is now funded statewide, and several other tenant protections have passed, but the Maryland effort shows that solidifying tenant protections can be a multiyear process. Sandra Larson reads her latest Shelterforce article, "Tenant Protections Take a Step Forward in Maryland." Read the full article at https://shelterforce.org/2022/12/12/tenant-protections-take-a-step-f...

Some leases plainly contradict state law or include questionable, punitive, or egregiously anti-tenant clauses. Minhae Shim Roth explores more in "Is Everything in Your Lease Legal? Quite Possibly Not," her latest story for Shelterforce. Read the full story at https://shelterforce.org/2022/12/05/is-everything-in-your-lease-legal-quite-possibly-not/

A culture war between housing justice advocates and YIMBYs began in 2014. While the groups have different priorities, they do have shared interests. Can they be allies or will the habitual quarreling keep them at odds? Shelby R. King reads her latest Shelterforce article, "Is a YIMBY/Tenant Activist Bridge Possible?" Read the full story at https://shelterforce.org/2022/12/06/is-a-yimby-tenant-acti...

Responding to tenants’ top concerns, organizers in Miami-Dade County pivoted from affordability issues to landlord accountability and won a package of new tenant protections. Here’s how they did it. Sandra Larson reads her latest Shelterforce article, "How Organizers Won a Tenants Bill of Rights in Miami-Dade County." Read the full story at https://shelterforce.org/2022/12/06/how-organizers-won-a-...

City Life/Vida Urbana is known for successful tenant union organizing and anti-eviction actions, but every individual action springs from a larger vision of system and policy change. Sandra Larson reads her article "Boston Organizers Protect Individual Tenants, While Trying to Change the System." Read the full story here: https://shelterforce.org/2022/12/13/boston-organizer…hange-the-system/

Landlord-tenant relations are governed by a mix of laws at all levels of government and can vary a lot. We’ll walk you through the sorts of things that get decided at the local, state, and federal levels, and how you can learn more. Minhae Shim Roth reads, "What Are Your Landlord’s Legal Obligations? Depends on Where You Live." Read the full story at https://shelterforce.org/2022/11/29/what-are-yo...

Organizers drew broad support with a multi-pronged campaign and found ways to get signatures in a pandemic to win rent stabilization and a slate of other progressive laws. Sandra Larson reads "How Portand, Maine, Passed Rent Control." Read the full story here: https://shelterforce.org/2022/11/28/how-portland-maine-passed-rent-control/

The National Tenants Union fought for tenant rights in the late 1970s and early 1980s. John Atlas, one of the union’s founders, reflects on the organization and what we might learn from those times. Read the story at https://shelterforce.org/2022/11/22/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-national-tenants-union/ This article is part of Shelterforce's Under the Lens series, Tenant Power Returns. Read the full...

After a lull in the 1990s, the tenants rights movement reemerged and has only gained strength. What caused the resurgence and what do tenants’ prospects look like? Shelby R. King, Shelterforce's investigative reporter, reads, "Organized Tenants Are Baaaaack." Read the full article at https://shelterforce.org/2022/11/21/organized-tenants-are-back/ This article is part of Shelterforce's Under the Le...

Miriam Axel-Lute, Shelterforce's editor-in-chief, talks about our latest series, "Tenant Power Returns," where we examine the resurgence of tenant organizing. Read the full editor's note here: https://shelterforce.org/2022/11/14/tenants-rights-its-not-a-moment-its-a-movement/ Follow the series here: https://shelterforce.org/category/tenant-power-returns/

Tenant advocates have long pushed for a “tenants bill of rights.” Here’s are the top protections housing justice activists are fighting for. Shelby R. King, Shelterforce's investigative reporter, reads, "Tenant Protections 101." Read the full story here: https://shelterforce.org/2022/11/15/tenant-protections-101/ This article is part of Shelterforce's Under the Lens series, Tenant Power Returns. R...

Yes in My Back Yard activists started with a simple—and some would say simplistic—argument: to solve the nation’s housing crisis we just need to build more housing, of any type and in as many places as possible. But as the movement nears a decade of existence, some of its members argue that their message has become more nuanced. Shelby R. King, Shelterforce's investigative reporter, reads "Have th...