In our latest “Meet Me at the Intersection of Housing” series, Lisa Rice, president and CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance, talks with Shelterforce's Schlonn Hawkins about the dangers and promise of AI, powerful tools driving the fight for housing justice, and a little bit about herself.

Watch the series at https://shelterforce.org/2024/01/12/meet-me-at-the-intersection-of-housing-with-guest-lisa-rice/

There's a lot of momentum toward resident-controlled housing. Do you know the three major forms it takes? Miriam Axel-Lute breaks down cooperatives, community land trusts, and mutual housing associations.

Read and download the explainer here: https://shelterforce.org/2024/01/04/q-what-are-the-three-major-types-of-community-or-resident-controlled-housing-and-how-do-they-work/

Three years after Brandon Duong first reported on aggregators, aggressive investors are still suing LIHTC general partners to profit off what should be affordable housing. Read the full story here: https://shelterforce.org/2023/11/30/lihtc-right-of-first-refusal-is-still-under-attack/

And the original story here: https://shelterforce.org/2020/10/16/refusing-the-right-to-refuse/

Adding more credits and making tweaks do not actually address some of the major weaknesses of the program. We should be bolder, says Alan Mallach in this opinion piece. Read the full story here: https://shelterforce.org/2023/12/21/how-to-really-reform-the-low-income-housing-tax-credit-program/

In 2018, the Family Self-Sufficiency Program was expanded to privately owned properties receiving project-based rental assistance. Reid Cramer takes a look at how early adopters have used the program to support residents, and lessons they learned along the way.

Read the full story at https://shelterforce.org/2023/12/08/the-fss-program-was-expanded-beyond-public-housing-authorities-heres-how-its-going/

Tenant organizing has the power to transcend culture wars and break down the artificial barriers that have been placed between us, says Josh Poe, an organizer with the Louisville Tenants Union. "I don’t believe that the GOP is winning in Kentucky because people where I’m from hate Black people or LGBTQ people. They’re winning because one side is organizing and the other side is not. One side is clear about power and the other side is not."

Read more from Poe at https://shelterforce.org/2023/09/01/tenants-unions-are-how-we-win-in-the-south/

Because so many old buildings are hard to fully retrofit, new homes need to fill in the gap. Shelterforce's Miriam Axel-Lute reads her latest piece, "All New Homes Should Be Accessible."

Read the full piece at https://shelterforce.org/2023/12/12/all-new-homes-should-be-accessible/

Arrangements in which LIHTC tenants share in the development’s financial benefits, or become partial or full owners, are rare—but some properties have pulled them off. This scan of several examples shows the possibilities—and the conditions needed for them to succeed. Robin Dondiego reads, "Can Residents Get More Out of Tax Credit Housing?"

This article appeared in Shelterforce's Under the Lens series—LIHTC: The Good, The Bad, and the Very Complicated.

Read the story here: https://shelterforce.org/2023/11/21/can-residents-get-more-out-of-tax-credit-housing/

Check out the entire series at: https://shelterforce.org/category/lihtc-the-good-the-bad-and-the-very-complicated/

Even those who praise the tax credit program and what it has accomplished are concerned that there are so few sizeable alternatives to it. Miriam Axel-Lute reads "The Only Tool in the Box: What It Means That LIHTC Dominates Affordable Housing." Read the full story here: https://shelterforce.org/2023/12/08/the-only-tool-in-the-box-what-it-means-that-lihtc-dominates-affordable-housing/

Last year, we reported on tenants in Northern Virginia LIHTC properties whose rents were raised in the middle of their leases. In "How Tenant Activists Won Protections Against Mid-Lease Rent Hikes," Brandon Duong explains how other states have banned the practice.

Read the full story here:https://shelterforce.org/2023/11/30/how-tenant-activists-won-protections-against-mid-lease-rent-hikes-in-affordable-housing/