Fighting for Tenant Rights on the Lower East Side

Soaring rent can often seem like a vague, mysterious force, like bad weather, for which no one in particular is responsible.

Picture the Homeless Hits the Pavement

Marcus Moore and Sam Miller of Picture the Homeless, an organization led by homeless and formerly homeless people, discuss their activism on issues of affordable housing, police harassment, and shelter reform.

Profiles in Public Service

Hard Units: A Drive through Jersey City with Brian Loughlin

Brian Loughlin, the chief architect for the Jersey City Housing Authority, takes us on a tour of recent renovations and rehabilitations, demonstrating the architectural innovation and policy acumen required to navigate federal housing programs and create sound homes and neighborhoods.

Typecast: Towers in the Park

Cooperative City, Cooperative Community

Caitlin Blanchfield uncovers the nuances of Co-op City that make this unique development relevant to our broader understanding of social infrastructure, intergenerational continuity, community pride, and affordability.

The Value of Land: How Community Land Trusts Maintain Housing Affordability

Oksana Mironova charts an alternative strategy to land ownership and property management that helps communities solve a broad range of problems — including widening inequality and decreasing community control over housing costs — that affect residents across the country.

Joseph Shuldiner Knows Public Housing

As the only person to have managed housing authorities for all three of the nation’s largest cities, Joseph Shuldiner, current director of the Yonkers Municipal Housing Authority, has a unique and invaluable perspective on what it takes to make public housing work.

Typecast: Towers in the Park

Smith Houses: A Legacy of Activism

Sarika Bansal investigates how local traditions of advocacy, a history of community tensions, and the chronic underfunding of public housing inform residents' opposition to a controversial new development proposal at Smith Houses.

West of Nathan's: Planning Coney Island's Residential Community

Housing advocate Oksana Mironova investigates the planning policies and housing developments that have shaped the often-overlooked residential side of Coney Island and calls for investment in a neighborhood facing challenges of poverty, climate change, and affordability loss.