Housing

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Labor journalist Ari Paul visits Electchester, a Queens housing complex constructed by a labor union of electricians, and uncovers a history that provokes urgent questions about contemporary housing challenges.

Susanne Schindler and Juliette Spertus revisit Twin Parks with its original designers, 40 years after its construction, to pose some complex questions about the role of design in defining the success of low-income housing.