Shelterforce

Shelterforce

Shelterforce is nonprofit news publication that covers affordable housing in the U.S., as well as community planning, racial equity, community development, and more. Here you can listen to authors read their latest Shelterforce articles, as well as our interviews with folks on the ground. For more, go to shelterforce.org. To support our nonprofit newsroom, make a tax-deductible donation at https://shelterforce.org/donate.

Episodes

What Happened to ‘Renter’s Choice’ Legislation?

January 17, 2026 • 8 mins
Years ago, officials in dozens of cities and states showed interest in passing legislation that required landlords to accept alternatives to the traditional lump-sum security deposit. Today, much of that momentum has diminished. Shelterforce's Frances Nguyen reports. Read the full story at https://shelterforce.org/2025/12/19/what-happened-to-renters-choice-legislation/ ℗ Music by ComaStudio
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New National Collaborative Links Local Housing Justice Efforts

January 16, 2026 • 16 mins
Bridge to Power aims to boost partner organizations’ capacity, information exchange, and agency. Sandra Larson reports. Read the full story at https://shelterforce.org/2026/01/09/new-national-collaborative-links-local-housing-justice-efforts/ ℗ Music by ComaStudio
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Lessons for Washington from Three Mayors Whose Housing Strategies Won Them Second Terms

January 9, 2026 • 7 mins
Baltimore, Boston, and Cleveland voters recently showed what happens when leaders loosen zoning and modernize permitting, while investing in community-scale development at the same time. Federal policymakers should take notes, says Antonio White. White is founder of 480 Advisors, and was previously a deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the former chief of communications and congressional affairs f...
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What Makes a Habitable Rental Home?

January 5, 2026 • 2 mins
Almost every state in the U.S. requires that landlords maintain safe and livable residential units. This is often called a "warranty of habitability." In some places, there are laws that specify exactly what those requirements are; in others, the standards are less defined. Read by author Lara Heard. ℗ Music by ComaStudio.
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The House on Chestnut Street: NJ’s Tenant Activists in the ’70s

December 22, 2025 • 11 mins
In the memoir Staking Our Claim, Pat Morrissy talks about the early days of Shelterforce, organizing for rent control laws in NJ towns, and supporting tenant leaders in their fights for better homes. Anthony Schuman, professor of architecture at NJIT, reads his review of Staking Our Claim. Read the full review at https://shelterforce.org/2025/12/05/the-house-on-chestnut-street-njs-tenant-activists-in-the-70s/ ℗ Music by ComaStudi...
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Harnessing the Shock of Disaster to Propel Change

December 3, 2025 • 13 mins
Sometimes disasters open a space for bigger and faster positive change. In Lahaina, Hawai'i, after the devastating fires in 2023, community leaders built on preexisting relationships to approach housing and land in new ways. Autumn Ness, the executive director of the Lahaina Community Land Trust, explains. Read the piece at https://shelterforce.org/2025/10/08/harnessing-the-shock-of-disaster-to-propel-change/ ℗ Music by ComaStudi...
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Beyond Basic Health Standards: Designing for Well-being

November 26, 2025 • 13 mins
Ross Chapin, an architect, provides a guide to affordable housing design that goes beyond the baseline. This piece appears in Shelterforce's new series—Fit to Live In: Fixing Our Housing Stock—and is read by Lara Heard. You can read it at https://shelterforce.org/2025/11/25/beyond-basic-health-standards-designing-for-well-being/ ℗ Music by ComaStudio.
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Healthy Homes or Hollow Promises in New Orleans?

November 25, 2025 • 18 mins
The Healthy Homes Ordinance is supposed to help fix New Orleans’s deteriorating rental housing stock. But three years in, many “certified habitable” apartments still have leaking roofs, black mold, and dangerous heat. What went wrong? Shelterforce's Shelby R. King reports. Read the story at https://shelterforce.org/2025/11/24/healthy-homes-or-hollow-promises-in-new-orleans/ ℗ Music by ComaStudio.
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Why Habitability Is a Growing Rallying Cry

November 21, 2025 • 18 mins
Across the country, tenants and lawmakers are pushing for better standards around mold, cooling, and more. How did we get here? Franklin Schneider reports. Read the full story at https://shelterforce.org/2025/11/18/why-habitability-is-a-growing-rallying-cry/ ℗ Music by ComaStudio.
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Why Does Habitability Matter? Health and Our Housing Stock

November 19, 2025 • 5 mins
Whether your home is safe and suitable for healthy living depends on a variety of factors. Shelterforce puts habitability under the lens to show how problems like inadequate heating, water damage, and pest infestations negatively affect your health and further exacerbate the housing crisis. Shelterforce's Lara Heard explains what you can expect in our new Under the Lens series, Fit to Live In: Fixing Our Housing Stock. You can rea...
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Opportunity Zones: Billionaire Handout or Housing Booster?

November 18, 2025 • 26 mins
The OZ program unleashed billions in private capital. Whether it lifts neighborhoods or just investors hinges on who’s steering the money and how well they can navigate the system. Now that Congress has made OZs permanent, the stakes are even higher. Shelterforce's Shelby R. King reports. Read the full story at https://shelterforce.org/2025/11/14/opportunity-zones-billionaire-handout-or-housing-booster/ ℗ Music by ComaStudio.
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The Tenant Movement Has Lost Two Leaders—Michael McKee and Joan Pransky

November 17, 2025 • 7 mins
Joan Pransky was an activist lawyer who fought for and defended both tenants and rent control policies in New Jersey. Michael McKee organized in New York City, founding multiple organizations and helping to defend and strengthen rent regulations at the state level. Shelterforce's Miriam Axel-Lute reads, "The Tenant Movement Has Lost Two Leaders—Michael McKee and Joan Pransky." Read the piece at https://shelterforce.org/2025/11/14/...
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Fueling the Future of Community Ownership, a Shelterforce webinar

November 14, 2025 • 87 mins
This Shelterforce webinar caps off our most recent Under the Lens series, “Innovations in Community Ownership.” Shelterforce's Miriam Axel-Lute speaks with folks who are implementing exciting new strategies for funding community ownership—both public and private—and for setting up the kinds of support ecosystems that will let these models thrive long term. Learn about the power of Los Angeles’s Measure ULA, New York City’s take on ...
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Poem: A Memphis Love Letter

November 13, 2025 • 4 mins
Tawanna Brown reads her poem, "A Memphis Love Letter." The poem was the artistic culmination of individual conversations with 13 Memphians affiliated with Centers for Transforming Communities, a partner in the Storied Communities, Community Stories project. "I was grateful to serve as a Memphis artist on the project and was honored to experience the stories of community members who hold such love and hope for the beautiful city tha...
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Rats, Faulty Heating, and Mushrooms on the Ceiling: Inside the Fight Against Pinnacle

November 12, 2025 • 11 mins
As more than 5,000 rent-stabilized units connected to the Pinnacle Group prepare to go up for auction in 2026, residents warn would-be buyers not to overlook the years of disrepair that made those units unlivable. Reporting by Roshan Abraham; read by John Ludas. Read the full story at https://shelterforce.org/2025/10/31/rats-faulty-heating-and-mushrooms-on-the-ceiling-inside-the-fight-against-pinnacle/ ℗ Music by ComaStudio.
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RAD Plan in Chelsea Will Build in Mixed-Income Housing—But Disrupt Low-Income Seniors

November 11, 2025 • 23 mins
A public housing redevelopment plan in Manhattan will add mixed-income housing—but some of the first wave of tenants who would have to leave are refusing to go. Stacy Torres, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of California–San Francisco, explains. Read the full story at https://shelterforce.org/2025/10/29/rad-plan-in-chelsea-will-build-in-mixed-income-housing-but-disrupt-low-income-seniors/?preview_id=53036&pre...
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Inside the Colorado Town Where Public Camping Is Considered Workforce Housing

November 10, 2025 • 8 mins
To help ease the burden of finding affordable housing, officials in Buena Vista say businesses can allow employees to live on their property—but only temporarily. Reporting by Robert Davis; ready by John Ludas. Read the full story at https://shelterforce.org/2025/11/05/inside-the-colorado-town-where-public-camping-is-considered-workforce-housing/ ℗ Music by ComaStudio.
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LA Tenants’ Strikes Forced a Major Landlord to Refund Opaque Utility Fees. Their Fight Isn’t Over.

October 28, 2025 • 10 mins
A commonly used billing system can allow landlords to quietly shift building utility costs onto tenants. Tenants say it’s time to break open the black box. Reporting by Roshan Abraham. Read by John Ludas. Read the full story at https://shelterforce.org/2025/10/10/la-tenants-strikes-forced-a-major-landlord-to-refund-opaque-utility-fees-their-fight-isnt-over/ ℗ Music by ComaStudio.
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Denver Land Trust Fights Displacement Whether It Owns the Land or Not

October 23, 2025 • 13 mins
Tierra Colectiva, a community land trust in the Denver neighborhoods of Globeville and Elyria-Swansea, combines community organizing, traditional CLT development, and more unusual roles in a large affordable housing development. Listen to, "Denver Land Trust Fights Displacement Whether It Owns the Land or Not." Reporting by Amanda Abrams; read by Miriam Axel-Lute. Read the full story at: https://shelterforce.org/2025/10/14/denver...
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This Multi-Issue Interfaith Organizing Group Has Supported Six Housing Co-ops for Decades

October 22, 2025 • 11 mins
The Naugatuck Valley Project grew out of factory closures and layoffs in the 1980s. But this interfaith and labor coalition also helped to not only found but sustain a group of affordable housing cooperatives in suburban Connecticut. Jill Webb reports. Read the full story at https://shelterforce.org/2025/10/09/this-multi-issue-interfaith-organizing-group-has-supported-six-housing-co-ops-for-decades/ ℗ Music by ComaStudio.
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