Pressley, Tlaib Announce Bill to Limit Criminal Background Checks on Renters
Formerly incarcerated people are 10 times more likely to become homeless than people without criminal backgrounds. The Housing FIRST Act would ban credit-check companies from including criminal history information on prospective tenants’ files if enacted.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jun 14, 2023
‘Justice for Jordan Neely’ Means Investing in Housing, Social Services
Neely’s killing is once again a reminder that carceral approaches to homelessness reproduce, rather than ameliorate, poverty.
Leah Goodridge May 18, 2023
Ed Gainey Wins Democratic Nomination for Pittsburgh Mayor
The state representative will almost certainly be the city’s first Black mayor, and his victory follows a year of nationwide social upheaval over police and racial justice issues.
Joshua Vaughn May 18, 2021
How Demands for Affordable Housing Are Defining Pittsburgh’s Mayoral Race
A disproportionate number of Black residents have left the city, and advocates say the next mayor needs to ensure greater access to housing.
Joshua Vaughn May 07, 2021
San Antonio Activists ‘Cannot in Good Faith’ Support This Year’s Mayoral Candidates
Local activists have soured on incumbent Mayor Ron Nirenberg, and no other candidate offers a compelling alternative.
Jerry Iannelli Apr 30, 2021
What New York City’s Next Mayor Can Do to Solve the Homelessness Crisis
Creating a commission and a new deputy mayor of housing will give directly impacted people a much-needed voice in government—and help ensure a right to housing for all.
Shams DaBaron Apr 13, 2021
San Antonio’s Response to Homelessness Is Broken. It’s Time to Put Housing First
Shelters are not meeting people’s needs, and the city is clearing encampments, says City Councilmember Roberto Treviño.
Roberto Treviño Apr 09, 2021
The Major Real Estate Donors Influencing the St. Louis Mayoral Race
Days before the election, campaign finance reports show that real-estate and construction industries favor Cara Spencer over Tishaura Jones.
Jerry Iannelli Apr 02, 2021
These Progressive Candidates Could Flip The Balance Of Power In St. Louis City Government
Four first-time candidates could grant progressives a majority on the Board of Alders and transform public safety and housing policy.
Eoin Higgins Mar 31, 2021
Federal Funding Charts the Path for Local Eviction Right-To-Counsel Efforts
To all of the state lawmakers wondering how to fund legal representation for tenants facing evictions: follow the federal COVID-19 relief packages.
John Pollock Mar 26, 2021
How Teri Castillo Plans to Protect San Antonio From ‘Salivating’ Housing Developers
The housing advocate’s run for city council could be a Texan litmus test for the broad appeal of policies popular with working class voters.
Eoin Higgins Mar 08, 2021
Tishaura Jones and Cara Spencer Win St. Louis Mayoral Primary
The two candidates will move on to the April 6 general election after securing the most votes under the city’s new approval voting system.
Meg O'Connor Mar 02, 2021
Washington State’s Most Populous County Curbed Covid-19 Among The Homeless By Moving Them To Hotels. But One Local Government Fought Back.
Seattle suburb Renton is battling an emergency homeless shelter through its zoning code.
Rachel M. Cohen Feb 10, 2021
New York City Mayoral Candidates Blast de Blasio’s Housing Record
In a forum with people experiencing homelessness, Democratic candidates criticized the mayor’s affordable housing plans, embraced a ‘right to housing,’ and rejected police intervention on homelessness calls.
Chris Gelardi Feb 05, 2021
Eviction Bans Saved Lives During The Pandemic, New Research Says
Policies that helped keep people in their homes—and keep the utilities on—reduced COVID-19 deaths and infections.
Joshua Vaughn Jan 28, 2021
Carroll Fife’s Fight For Unhoused Mothers Sparked A Movement Across The Country. Now She’s On The Oakland City Council Ready To Transform The City.
Fife has pledged to reinvest in the local community, aggressively combat the housing crisis, address income inequality, education, healthcare and more.
Eoin Higgins Nov 09, 2020
Esther Agbaje, Fighting For Affordable Housing And Prison Reform, Becomes Minnesota’s First Nigerian-American Legislator
“I have always had a focus on public service, always a desire to make sure that I’m using my skills and talents to help people and to make the community around me a little bit better,” she said.
Dawn R. Wolfe Nov 04, 2020
Athena Hollins Wins Seat In Minnesota State House, Pledging To Fight For Broad Police Reforms
Hollins’s ‘very personal’ decision to run was sparked in part by the Trump administration ‘catching everything on fire.’ Now she wants to advocate for subsidized child care, police reform, and more.
Dawn R. Wolfe Nov 04, 2020
Omar Fateh Wins Chance to Bring ‘People Power’ to Minnesota’s State Senate
Minnesotans, Fateh said, “should be able to access the folks that are representing us and make sure that they’re partnering with the community.”
Dawn R. Wolfe Nov 04, 2020
Sara Innamorato Is Fighting to Reduce the Harms of COVID-19’s Economic Crush
The state representative wants to bar landlords in Pennsylvania from reporting missed or late rent payments to credit agencies.
Joshua Vaughn Oct 13, 2020
Carroll Fife Is Fighting To Make Oakland Safer And More Equitable For Everyone
In her run for City Council, Fife pushes back on the institutional barriers to Black people that come from a history of oppression.
Eoin Higgins Oct 01, 2020
The Role of Police in Gentrification
A lawsuit alleges Breonna Taylor died because Louisville was trying to arrest its way toward economic redevelopment. Research shows this is common.
Brenden Beck Aug 04, 2020
Santa Cruz County Grand Jury Homelessness Report Calls for Defunding of Police
A June report from the county’s independent judicial arm urges local government to reallocate law enforcement resources to social services.
Ella Fassler Jul 31, 2020
Maricopa County Moved Homeless People to Sweltering Parking Lots in Response to COVID-19
Hundreds were forced from an encampment to fenced-in, asphalt parking lots with no shade in Phoenix’s triple-digit summer heat. At least three people have died.
Meg O'Connor Jul 24, 2020
New York City’s Public Housing Rules Could Force Many Released Prisoners Into Homelessness
As thousands of people are freed from local jails, a group of nonprofits and activist organizations says the city’s housing authority must revamp its policies that banish the formerly incarcerated.
Jerry Iannelli Jul 22, 2020
Defund The Police – And Abolish Laws Used To Target Vulnerable People
Making our communities safe requires not only the defunding of police departments, but also dismantling discriminatory laws that target survival activities such as sleeping, sitting, lying down, and eating in public space.
Molly Beckhardt, Paul Boden, Erin Goodling Jun 26, 2020
West Virginia Cities Use Evictions To Combat The Opioid Epidemic
The ‘drug house’ ordinances that force landlords to kick out tenants are mostly compounding the overdose crisis, critics say.
Leora Smith Jun 09, 2020
Housing Is A Human Right. It Should Not Be Predicated On The Money In One’s Pocket.
There are certain universal human needs that any governing structure — from local to federal — is responsible for. Among these are housing, healthcare, education, public parks, clean water, and clean air — the things that make life beautiful. These needs touch every single living being and as such, are non-negotiable. They do not belong on the open market.
Molly Beckhardt, Paul Boden, June LS Apr 24, 2020
Working-Class Tenants Are Seizing Vacant State-Owned Property in LA
On the intersection of two public health crises: housing and COVID-19.
Jonny Coleman Apr 09, 2020
Tenants in Oakland Are Going on a Rent Strike Tomorrow
Residents have been told to stay in their homes to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus—but little has been done to ensure they can afford to stay there, activists say.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Mar 31, 2020
As Coronavirus Spreads, the Crisis LA’s Homeless Community Is Facing Has Been Decades in the Making
It should not take a global pandemic for our elected officials to acknowledge that we are all safer if everyone can shower and wash their hands.
Sabrina Johnson Mar 19, 2020
As the Coronavirus Pandemic Continues, Homeless Communities Are Particularly Vulnerable
How California, which is home to more than half of the country’s unsheltered homeless population, is addressing the needs of the unhoused.
Kira Lerner Mar 18, 2020
Ayanna Pressley’s Husband Spent 10 Years in Prison. Now He and Pressley Are Fighting for Re-Entry Reform
The U.S. representative said her husband helped her realize that when one person is incarcerated, many more are affected.
Kira Lerner Mar 04, 2020
Money For Militarized Evictions, But Not For Homes
Moms 4 Housing made a home for their families in a vacant house in Oakland. Yesterday, police in tanks and riot gear evicted them.
Vaidya Gullapalli Jan 15, 2020