A project in Portland, Oregon, aims to turn aging rentals into affordable condos, offering lower price points and a path to ownership. But that affordability currently rests on temporary subsidies and market goodwill. For tenants who can’t buy—and future buyers looking for affordability—the risks are significant. Shelterforce's Shelby R. King reports.

Read the story at https://shelterforce.org/2026/02/06/can-condo-conversions-deliver-long-term-affordability/

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A Massachusetts initiative uncovers how fragmented programs make healthy homes harder to achieve. Listen to "Program Mismatches Keep Repair Funds Unused," by Elana Brochin, the director of health equity at the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations. This audio story is read by John Ludas.

Read the full story at https://shelterforce.org/2025/12/04/program-mismatches-keep-repair-funds-unused/

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Ending unsheltered homelessness was a major campaign promise for the current mayor of Portland, Oregon. Homelessness service providers in the area say he chose methods that don't work. Wesley Vaughan reports.

Read the full story at https://shelterforce.org/2026/01/27/portlands-mayor-went-all-in-on-overnight-only-shelters-homelessness-is-still-risin/

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The city’s new formula will blend inflation and HUD's Fair Market Rent to determine the minimum wage. Housing advocates believe it’s a replicable approach for other cities. Shelterforce's Frances Nguyen reports.

Read the story at https://shelterforce.org/2026/02/04/when-rent-rises-so-does-minimum-wage-a-new-model-in-santa-fe/

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By adjusting rent thresholds and shrinking landlord exemptions, more than a dozen municipalities have adopted stronger versions of a state law that protects tenants from high rent increases and unreasonable evictions. Frances Nguyen, Shelterforce's housing fellow, reports.

Read the full story at https://shelterforce.org/2026/01/29/more-upstate-towns-opt-in-to-and-toughen-new-yorks-good-cause-eviction-law/

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Investigations into the fair housing practices of two US cities directly contradict race-neutral guidance from the Supreme Court. Cities must continue this work, says Thomas Silverstein, president and executive director of the Poverty & Race Research Action Council.

Read Silverstein's op-ed at https://shelterforce.org/2026/01/30/hud-scolds-boston-and-minneapolis-for-doing-what-it-says-it-wants-done/

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A tenant opportunity to purchase act, or TOPA, is a policy that gives tenants some specific rights when their building goes up for sale. Learn what it covers and what it doesn’t in this explainer.

Watch the video at https://shelterforce.org/2026/01/01/what-is-topa/

As the single-family rental market grows, tenant organizers are adapting their tactics to a housing landscape that stretches across neighborhoods—with no shared spaces, and often, no clear landlord. Shelterforce's Frances Nguyen reports.

Read the full story at https://shelterforce.org/2026/01/22/scattered-homes-shared-landlords-the-changing-landscape-of-tenant-organizing-in-single-family-rentals/

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In Cambridge, Mass., residents speak positively of the renovations to their public housing stock. The housing authority attributes its success to an innovative mix of RAD with other funding sources. Shelterforce's Sandra Larson reports.

Read the full story at https://shelterforce.org/2025/12/10/what-we-can-learn-from-cambridges-public-housing-overhaul/

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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/

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